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PHILADELPHIA, 

B.PETERSON  &  BRO.: 


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THE    DKEK    STALKERS. 


BV 


FRANK    FORESTER. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
T.    B.    PKTEJiSON    &    BROTHERS. 


THE    DEERSTALKERS: 


A    SPORTING    TALE    OF    THE 


SOUTH-WESTERN   COUNTIES. 


BY    FRAXK    FORESTER.. 

A.OTH0R    OF    "my    SHOOTING-BOX,"     "THE    WARWICK    WOODLANDS,"    '•'tHK 
QUORNDON    HOUNI>S,"    ETC.,  ETC. 


WITH  ORIGINAL  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


|3 !)  1 1  a  Li  c  I  ]j  1)  I  a : 

T.    B.    PETERSON    &    BROTHERS,    30(j    CHESTNUT    STREET. 


q5b 


H5! 


Entered  according  to  Aet  of  Congress,  in  tho  jear  1843,  by 

CAREY     &     HART, 

ta  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  in 
and  for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


COLLINS,    PRINTER. 


»   »  * . 


Tif> 

H.  H.  SIBLEY,  Esq., 

MEN  DOT  A,    NEAR    ST.  PETER'S. 

BETTER  KNOWK  BY  HIS  SPORTING  ALIA.*, 

HAL,  A  DAHCOTAH; 

THI«     UTTLE    WORK    13     OEDICATEP,    I>-     TO'CTS    JfOT     LESS     Of     RXIPICT     FO*    Ut 

SKILL    Ai    A    SPORTSMAN,   AND   HIS    POWER    AS    A   WRITXIl,    THAM    0»    PSB- 

30NAL    FKIEXDSH;P    AND    KSTEKM, 

EY 

FRANK    FORESTER. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

If  it  be  necessary  to'  make  any  remarks  on 
the  occasion  of  offering  a  new  Sporting  Story  to 
the  reading  world,  it  will  be  enough  to  state  that 
this,  like  "  My  Shooting-Box,"  is  an  attempt  to 
carry  a  slight  thread  of  connected  story  through 
a  variety  of  incidents,  on  the  road,  in  the  field, 
and  the  forest ;  and  that  its  gist  ifi  to  be  found 
briefly  summed  up  in  the  last  lines  of  the  tale 
itself,  namely,  ''that  there  is  not  only  much 
practical,  but  much  moral  utility,  in  the  Gentle 
Science  of  Woodcraft." 

FRANK  FORESTER. 


THE   DEERSTALKERS 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  SPORTSMAN'S  DRAG. 

When  land  and  rent  are  gone  and  spent, 

Then  driving  is  most  excellent ; 

For  if  all  other  fortunes  fail, 

You  still  at  least  can  drive  the  mail. 

Old  So7ig. 

In  one  of  the  south-western  counties  of  New  Yoik, 
one  of  those,  I  mean,  which  lie  between  the  Hudson 
and  the  Delaware,  and  along  the  eastern  or  Mohawk's 
branch  of  the  latter  river,  there  is  a  great  tract  of  wild 
and  thinly  settled  land,  well  watered  and  well  wooded, 
and  well  peopled  by  those  tribes  of  fur  and  feather 
which  are  so  keenly  sought  by  the  true  sportsman, 
though,  for  the  most  part,  human  habitations  are  few 
and  far  between. 

In  the  heart  of  this  wild  tract,  among  the  huge, 
round-headed     hills,    some    stone-ribbed,  bare,     and 

13 


14  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

crowned  with  circlets  of  primeval  rock,  others  feathered 
with  luxuriant  woodland  from  the  base  to  the  summit, 
there  lies  a  beautiful  and  lonely  dell.  The  mountains, 
for  they  indeed  merit  that  name,  fall  down  to  it  on  every 
side  abruptly  ;  and  the  stream  to  which  it  owes  its  exist- 
ence, winds  to  and  fro,  so  deviously,  and  in  such  sud- 
den curves,  that  the  eye  can  scarce  detect  the  point  at 
which  it  enters  or  departs  from  that  small  verdant  basin. 

Through  this  soft  lap  of  ground  there  sweeps  an  ex- 
cellent, though  narrow  road,  dividing  it  into  two  parts 
nearly  equal ;  that  up  the  stream,  to  the  right  hand  as 
you  travel  westward,  being  occupied  by  a  sweet  green 
meadow,  as  level  and  luxuriant  as  an  English  lawn ;  that 
downward,  to  the  left,  much  narrower  and  deeper,  and 
filled  with  dense  and  thriving  timber. 

There  was  no  house,  however,  on  the  meadow,  nor, 
with  the  exception  of  the  winding  road,  any  sign  of 
civilization  in  the  place  at  all. 

The  green  savannah  lay  some  forty  feet  above  the 
bed  of  the  stream,  at  the  point  where  the  bed  crossed  it, 
and  was  fringed  on  every  side,  but  the  lowest,  with  an 
even  and  regular  belt  of  willows,  aspens,  and  maples, 
now  clad  in  their  most  gorgeous  hues,  by  the  first  frosts 
of  autumn.  Across  the  lowest  end  of  this  basin  there 
was  a  long  green  mound,  now  forming  the  fence  of  the 
load  on  that  side,  partially  overrun  with  brushwood  and 
briars ;  but  in  the  centre  it  had  been  cut  or  broken 
down  abruptly,  in  order  to  give  egress  to  the  stream, 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  15 

which  plunged  down  to  its  lower  level  by  an  irregular, 
foaming  descent,  half  cataract,  half  rapid,  of  nearly  forty 
feet  in  height. 

It  needed  but  one  glance  to  discover  the  origin  of 
that  smooth,  ntitural  meadow  ;  it  had  been  once  a  beaver- 
pond,  and  that  low,  grassy  mound,  all  overrun  with 
w^eeds  and  thick  shrubbery,  had  been^  long  years  ago, 
the  work  of  the  industrious  amphibii.  The  hand  of 
man,  it  is  probable,  had  broken  it,  w^hen  the  beavers 
disappeared  from  their  old  haunts ;  and  the  small  wood- 
land lake,  drained  by  the  outlet  of  its  feeding  stream, 
had  become  the  woodgirt  savannah  which  we  see  be- 
fore us. 

Immediately  in  front  of  the  fall,  scarce  ten  yards  dis- 
tant from  it,  the  bridge  spanned  the  brook ;  and  often- 
times, w^hen  the  wind  blew  from  the  northward,  its 
planks  were  slippery  with  the  driven  spray.  Beneath 
the  single  arch,  there  was  a  deep  black  pool,  wherein 
the  foam-wreaths  of  the  water-fall  wheeled  round  and 
round  in  sullen  eddies ;  but  within  ten  yards  the 
w^ater  became  somewhat  shallower,  leaving  an  awk- 
ward, s'tony  ford,  between  the  bridge  and  a  second  de- 
scent, longer  and  steeper  than  the  upper  fall,  down 
which  the  mountain  rivulet  fretted  and  chafed,  tdl  it 
was  lost  both  to  ear  and  eye  far  in  the  dingle  to  the 
left. 

It  was  past  five  o'clock  one  lovely  autumn  evening, 
and  the  sun  had  already  sunk  behind  the  crest  of  the 


16  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

western  hill,  though  long  slant  rays  of  yellow  light 
streamed  through  each  gap  and  broken  holtow  of  its 
ridge,  filling  the  valle}'  with  a  transparent,  hazy  lustre, 
which  half  revealed  the  scenery,  half  veiled  it  from  the 
dazzled  eye.  * 

The  woods  were  in  their  flush  of  autumnal  glory,  for 
the  air  was  keen  and  hard  and  bracing.  There  had 
been  a  sharp  frost  on  the  previous  night,  and  the  washed 
road,  and  brimful,  turbid  stream,  showed  that  it  had 
succeeded  heavy  and  continuous  rains.  Not  a  leaf, 
therefore,  had  yet  fallen  from  the  earliest  of  the  decidu- 
ous trees ;  yet  not  a  leaf  upon  the  hardiest,  except  the 
evergreens  alone,  but  had  already  undergone  "  a  change 
to  something  new  and  strange,"  and  no  imagination, 
unused  to  the  effects  of  an  autumnal  frost  in  America, 
can  fancy  its  unrivalled  beauty. 

A  beautiful  wild-deer  had  come  out  of  the  wood  to 
drink,  and  was  standing  beside  the  ford,  having 
quenched  his  thirst,  gazing  about  him  lazily,  and  unde- 
cided what  to  do. 

Suddenly  he  raised  his  head,  snuffed  the  air  eagerly, 
as  if  he  caught  a  taint  on  its  breezy  current,  tossed  his 
wide  antlers  proudly,  and  dashed  through  the  flooded 
ford. 

He  was  a  tall  and  stately  beast,  yet  for  three  times 
his  length  in  the  middle  of  the  brook  he  was  swimming, 
nor  was  it  without  something  of  an  effort  that  he  reached 
the  bank  on  the  further  side,  up  which  he  bounded  with 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  17 

long,  graceful  strides,  and  disappeared  immediately  in 
the  thick  woods  beyond. 

It  was  some  minutes  ere  any  human  sense  could  have 
discerned  the  approach  of  that,  whatever  it  might  be, 
which  had  alarmed  the  stag. 

But,  in  a  little  while,  the  clatter  of  quick  hoofs  might 
have  been  heard  on  the  hard-beaten  road,  and  the  rapid 
roll  of  a  well-built  and  easy-running  carriage,  forming 
as  it  were  an  accompaniment  to  a  fine,  manly  voice, 
trolling  the  stanza,  which  I  have  prefixed  to  this  chapter, 
until  the  wild  woods  rang  to  the  jocund  sound. 

In  a  minute  or  two  the  vehicle  which  bore  the  singer 
came  rapidly  into  view,  over  the  brow  of  the  eastern 
hill,  drawn  by  four  capital  horses  at  a  slapping  pace. 

It  was  rather  a  singular-looking  carriage,  half  mail- 
phaeton,  half  dog-cart,  yet  nothing  could  have  been 
contrived  more  suitable  for  a  sporting  conveyance,  com- 
bining at  once  room,  lightness,  strength,  and  beauty. 

In  front,  it  was  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  high- 
seated,  open  phaeton,  with  a  tall,  square  dash-board, 
and  a  seat  so  elevated  that  the  driver  was  almost  in  a 
standing  posture  as  he  sat,  having  thus  the  greatest  pos- 
sible command  over  his  horses.  Behind  this  was  a  box 
body,  with  a  slight  rail  along  the  top,  and  a  comfortable 
seat,  much  lower  than  that  in  front,  as  far  aft  as  possible. 

The  whole  body,  which  was  supported  upon  three 
long  elliptic  springs,  and  well  furnished  with  wings  of 
patent  leather,  to  ward  off  the  mud  splashed  from  the 


18  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

wheels,  was  painted  of  a  deep,  rich  tea-colour,  picked 
out  with  black,  and  ornamented  only  by  a  small  crest, 
surrounded  with  a  garter,  painted  in  relief  of  the  same 
colours. 

It  had  three  lamps,  one  under  the  foot-board,  so 
placed  as  to  throw  its  light  under  the  horses'  feet,  far 
forward;  the  other  two,  one  above  each  fore-wheel, 
with  powerful  reflectors.  No  baggage  was  in  sight, 
except  a  small  trunk  of  tawny  leather,  on  the  rack  be- 
hind. But  there  w^as  a  profusion  of  fine  bear- skins 
hanging  over  all  the  seats,  and  covering  the  legs  of  the 
travellers  in  the  guise  of  aprons,  all  of  the  richest  and 
most  costly  fur. 

The  four  horses,  w^hich  came  trotting  over  the  gentle 
slope  as  if  they  had  nothing  behind  them,  were  as  clean 
and  powerful  cobs  as  ever  wore  a  collar.  None  of  them 
were  above  fifteen  hands  and  an  inch  in  height,  with 
capital  forehands,  high  clean  w^ithers,  small  heads  well 
set  on,  and  blood-like  ears.  No  one  could  look  at  them 
without  being  struck  by  their  perfect  similarity  in  shape, 
size,  symmetry,  and  style  of  action.  But  here  the  simi- 
larity ended  ;  for  two,  the  offside  wheeler  and  the  nigh- 
hand  leader,  were  as  black  and  as  glittering  as  polished 
jet ;  the  other  two  were  beautiful  silver  grays. 

Such  were  the  team,  which,  stepping  out  at  the  rate  of 
ten  miles  an  hour,  all  together,  at  a  square  handsome  trot, 
came  clattering  down  the  road,  snapping  at  their  long 
brio-ht  curbs,  or  nibbling  in  play  at  one  another,  without 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  19 

a  fleck  of  foam,  or  a  spot  of  sweat  on  their  shining  coats, 
whirling  the  heavy  drag  along  as  if  it  were  a  plaything. 
For  the  load  was  indeed  a  heavy  one.  The  fore  seat 
held  two  persons.  The  driver  was  a  tall,  well-made, 
athletic  young  man,  with  light  hair,  and  a  keen  quick 
eye,  dressed  in  a  blue  box-coat  with  many  capes,  which 
disguised  his  whole  figure.  But  it  could  not  disguise 
the  graceful  ease  combined  with  firmness  of  his  seat, 
the  quick  delicate  strength  of  his  fingers  as  he  mouthed 
his  high-mettled  cattle,  or  the  thorough  coachman-like 
skill  with  which  he  handled  the  long  English  four-horse 
whip,  which  he  carried  athwart  his  neighbour's  person. 
That  neighbour  was  as  different  a  person  as  can  well 
be  imagined  from  his  companion.  He  was  a  man  of 
about  fifty  years,  not  above  five  feet  six  in  height,  by 
about  four  feet  in  breadth  across  the  shoulders,  and  six 
in  girt  about  the  waist,  weighing  at  least  three  hundred 
pounds  of  solid  flesh,  yet  lithe  withal,  and  active.  His 
face  was  excellent,  sun-burned  and  ruddy,  yet  with 
fine  small  features,  a  lip  curling  with  a  perpetual  smile 
of  humour  and  benevolence,  an  eye  gleaming  with 
mirth  and  kindliness,  and  untaught  intellect.  That  man 
had  the  heart  of  a  million.  You  could  not  look  at  him 
for  half  a  moment  and  doubt  it.  Ay'  and  a  soul,  too, 
that  would  do  honour  to  a  prince  —  though  the  rich 
men,  the  would-be  aristocrats  of  our  cities,  would  sneer 
at  him,  forsooth,  and  perhaps  cut  him  in  town  after 
sharing  his  hospitality  in  the  country,  because  he  is 


20  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

rough  and  not  a  gentleman  !  A  gentleman  ! — Heaven 
save  the  mark  I  I  should  like  to  see  one  of  them  that 
could  vie  with  him  in  any  of  those  points  which  make 
the  real  gentleman ;  kind  heart,  and  open  hand  ;  un- 
willingness to  hurt  the  feelings  of  the  humblest ;  respect 
for  everything  that  is  honourable,  great,  and  noble;  and 
contempt  for  everything  that  is  not  so,  however  well  it 
may  be  gilded  ;  promptness  to  fight  for  himself,  or  for 
his  friend,  when  aggrieved  ;  unblemished  honesty,  and 
undaunted  courage  ;  the  strength  of  a  lion,  added  to 
the  *stomach  of  a  man. 

But  to  return  to  our  party.  The  body  of  the  car- 
riage w^as  occupied  by  four  dogs,  as  perfect  specimens 
of  the  canine,  as  were  the  nags  which  drew  the  vehicle 
of  the  equine  genus.  Two  of  these  were  red  Irish  set- 
ters, with  coats  as  soft  as  silk,  deeply  feathered  and 
curly  on  the  sterns  and  about  the  legs,  with  soft  large 
dark  eyes,  and  lips  and  noses  black  as  jet.  The  others^ 
pointers,  were  very  high-bred,  one  black  as  a  coal, 
without  a  speck  of  white,  the  other  white  as  snow,  wdth 
liver-coloured  ears  and  eye-spots,  with  a  small  dot  of 
tan  over  each  eye,  and  a  tan-shadowing  round  the  muz- 
zle—  not  your  coarse,  raw-boned,  bull-headed,  thick- 
tailed,  double-nosed  Spaniards,  but  the  true  thorough- 
bred  English   pointer,  with   tails    thin,    tapering,  and 


leonis 


Vim  stomacho  apposuisse  nostro. 

Horace. 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  21 

whiplike  ;  feet  round  as  a  cat's,  strong  loins,  thin  flanks, 
deep  chests — ^uilt  both  for  speed  and  power,  their  coats 
as  sleek  as  satin,  and  the  outline  of  their  arched  ribs  just 
showing  through  the  skin,  as  if  to  tell  the  perfection  of 
their  condition. 

Two  persons  now  made  up  the  complement,  seated  in 
the  back  part  of  the  wagon,  both  smoking,  the  one  a  Ma- 
nilla cheroot,  and  the  other  a  short,  very  dingy-looking 
clay  pipe.  The  former  was  a  gentleman  a  year  or  two 
younger  and  three  or  four  inches  shorter  than  the  driver, 
with  a  countenance  singularly  expressive  of  fun,  kind- 
ness, and  good  humour.  The  other,  as  was  clearly  shown 
by  the  silver  hat-band  and  the  crest  buttons  of  his  gray 
frock  coat,  was  the  groom,  a  stout,  short,  hard-faced, 
knowing-looking  Yorkshireman,  broad-shouldered  and 
duck-legged,  with  his  black  hair  clipped  bowl-fashion 
round  his  bullet-head,  and  that  so  closely,  that  had  you 
laid  your  hand  on  it  suddenly,  it  would  have  pricked  you 
like  the  bristles  of  a  shoe-brush. 

There  was  yet,  to  make  up  the  company  of  bipeds  and 
quadrupeds,  another  of  the  latter  order,  in  the  shape  of  a 
superb  Scotch  deerhound,  of  the  tallest  stature,  shaped 
like  a  greyhound,  but  of  three  times  the  weight  and  size, 
shaggy  and  wire-haired  like  a  terrier,  and  of  a  deep 
tawny  brindle,  with  coal-black  eyes  and  muzzle.  This 
splendid  animal  trotted  along  quietly  under  the  hinder 
axle  of  the  carriage,  keeping  up,  as  it  would  seem  without 


22  Tin:  deek:--talkkrs. 

the  slightest  effort,  with  the  slapping  pace  of  the  well- 
bred  trotters. 

That  was  a  merry  party,  and  though  the  wagon, 
splashed  with  the  mud  of  some  half-dozen  different  soils, 
indicated  that  they  had  travelled  many  a  mile  since  day- 
break, there  was  nothing  of  fatigue  or  w^eariness  to  be 
seen  either  in  the  bipeds  or  quadrupeds  of  the  company. 

The  latter,  as  I  have  said,  w^ere  trotting  along  merrily, 
full  of  play  and  spirit ;  and  it  was  evident,  by  the  clean- 
ness and  brightness  of  their  coats,  that  they  had  been 
w^ell  rubbed  down  and  polished  at  their  mid-day  halting- 
place.  Their  harness,  too,  which  was  of  the  slightest 
make,  compatible  w^ith  strength,  plain  black  with  covered 
rings  and  buckles,  and  not  a  particle  of  metal  visible, 
except  a  small  crest  on  the  blinkers,  had  evidently  been 
cleaned  likewise.  The  road  had  become  dryer  during 
the  afternoon,  moreover,  and  the  cattle  w^ere  not  splashed 
at  all  in  the  same  proportion  with  the  vehicle  w^hich  they 
drew. 

The  men  w^ere  singing,  jesting,  and  laughing  all  the 
way,  and  the  wild  w^oods  had  rung  for  many  a  league  with 
their  sonorous  music;  wdiile  ever  and  anon,  at  his  master's 
bidding,  the  Yorkshire  varlet  would  produce  a  key  bugle, 
w^hich  hung  in  its  leather  case  beside  him,  and  wake  full 
many  an  echo  with  points  of  war,  or  hunting-calls,  w^ildly 
symphonious. 

"  Halloo!  Tom,"  cried  he  who  was  handhng  the  rib- 
bons suddenly,  as  he  brought  his  strain  to  an  end — "  you 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  23 

are  falling  asleep,  you  fat  devil  you  !  come,  wake  up, 
man,  and  tell  us  how  far  it  is  to  this  Dutchman's  tavern, 
you  were  telling  us  about." 

"  Well !  well  I"  responded  the  fat  man,  shaking  him- 
self; "it's  four  miles  arter  you  git  across  the  bridge  there. 
We'll  be  there  torights.  Why,  Aircher,  what  is't  ?  'Taint 
half  an  hour  nohow  since  we  drinked — are  you  so  dry 
already  you  carn't  wait  a  mile  or  two  ?  But  I  can  tell 
you,  you'll  be  jest  disappinted  if  you  counts  on  g^ttin* 
anything  to  drink  at  Dutch  Jake's." 

"  Why  not  ?"  asked  the  young  man  from  the  back 
seat ;  "  why  not  ?  Is  Dutch  Jake  temperance  ?" 

"Jest  about  as  much  as  you  be,  little  Wax-skin  !"  an- 
swered the  fat  man,  laughing.  "  No,  no  I  Dutch  Jake 
arn't  temperance,  nohow ;  but  if  he  was  we'd  have  a 
better  chance,  for  I  never  did  know  yet  a  temperance 
man,  but  he  would  licker  on  the  sly  like,  and  they  doos 
always  keep  the  first  best  rum,  I  tell  you.  But  bless 
you.  Forester,  Dutch  Jake  don't  keep  nothin'  as  a  pig 
could  drink ;  leastwise  I  carn't,  nohow." 

"  A  very  clear  proof  that  a  pig  cannot !"  said  the 
other,  laughing  joyously. 

"  Jest  see  now,  lad,  if  I  don't  pay  you  for  that  ere 

when  we  git  out  of  this  here  rattletrap,"  replied  Tom ; 

but  suddenly  changing  his  note,  he  cried  out  sharply — 

"  But  what  the  devil's  been  to  do  hereaways  ?    By  the 

clarnal !  Aircher,  the  bridge  has  fetched  awav!     One  of 
109 


24  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

the  joists  is  gone,  and  three  of  them  darned  sleepers. 
We  11  niver  git  acrost  it." 

"  That  we  shall  not,  indeed,"  said  Archer,  pulling  his 
horses  up.  "What  the  deuce  is  to  be  done  now?  It  is 
eighteen  miles  back  to  the  tavern,  where  the  other  road 
branches  off.  We  cannot  get  back  there  to-night,  that's 
clear  enough ;  besides,  it's  off  our  road.  This  is  all  your 
fault,  you  old  stupid  porpoise !  You  swore  that  this  was 
the  best  road." 

"  So  it  be,"  growled  the  fat  man.  "  I  niver  see  a 
prettier  nice  road  in  all  my  life,  nor  you  nuther,  and  I 
couldn't  tell  nothin'  about  the  darned  bridge." 

"  Well !  hold  the  ribbons,  while  I  jump  out  and  look 
at  the  ford.  The  brook  is  devilish  full !  Sit  still,  all 
the  rest  of  you ;  don't  let  the  dogs  jump  out,  Tim." 

And  with  the  words  he  sprang  to  the  ground,  ran  down 
the  steep  pitch,  by  the  bridge  side,  and  examined  the  ford 
and  the  further  shore  with  a  practised  and  wary  eye. 

The  deerhound  followed  his  master  to  the  brink,  and  as 
he  reached  it  feathered  his  long  stern  sharply,  threw  up 
his  head  and  snuffed  the  air  greedily,  and  the  next  in- 
stant would  have  plunged  into  the  stream,  had  not  his 
master's  rate  checked  him,  before  he  had  even  wet  his 
fore  feet  in  the  turbid  current. 

The  party  in  the  wagon  were  too  busily  engaged  in 
thinking  about  the  road  to  observe  the  action  of  the 
<log ;  and  when  Archer  returned,  Frank  Forester  asked 
eagerly, 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  25 

"Will  it  do,  Harry?" 

"  I  think  so,"  returned  Archer  ;  "  at  all  events  we'll 
try  it^but  it  is  full  and  strong— there's  no  denying  it." 

"It's  a  darned  hole,  anyways!"  said  the  fat  man, 
doubtfully. 

"I  know  it  is,  Tom,"  said  Harry,  "  but  there  is  no 
help  for  it,  that  I  see.  There's  one  thing  in  our  favour, 
a  deer  has  gone  across  it  within  half  an  hour — " 

"  Then  we'll  go  clear,  sure  enough,"  said  Frank. 

"  That's  not  so  sartain,  nuther,"  replied  Tom ;  "  a 
deer  harn't  got  no  dog-cart  at  his  heels." 

"  Had  we  not  better  all  of  us  jump  out,  and  make  it  a 
lighter  pull?" 

"  Not  by  any  means,  Frank,"  answered  Harry. 
"  The  weight  is  the  only  thing  that  will  save  us.  If  we 
were  empty,  the  stream  would  sweep  us  over  the  falls  in 
a  moment." 

"What  do  you  say,  boys,  shall  we  try  it?  I  will  not 
deny  that  we  shall  have  a  squeak  for  it ;  but  if  we  do 
not,  we  must  give  up  our  trip." 

"  Oh!  try  it,  I  say  !"  answered  Forester.  "  One  must 
die  some  day,  and  some  one  must  die  every  day — as  well 
to-day  as  to-morrow.     I  say  try  it,  by  all  means." 

"I  say  so  tew!"  Tom  took  up  the  word.  "But  1 
arn't  a  goin'  to  be  killed  yit  awhile,  now  I  tell  you — 
there  arn't  no  stream  hereaways  that  can  begin  to 
dreawn  me  !" 


26  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

*'  I  should  think  not,"  said  Harry.  "  It  might  as  well 
undertake  to  drown  a  whiskey-barrel." 

"  T'  rocks  moight  be  bre-aking  thee,  ay  reckon,  tho'," 
interposed  Timothy  with  perfect  gravity  ;  "  ay've  seed  a 
pooncheon  stove  in,  vary  quickly." 

"  You  never  saw  a  feather-bed  broken,  did  you,  Ti- 
mothy ?"  asked  Forester. 

"  Noa,  sur  I"  repHed  Timothy,  with  a  grin  ;  but  his 
face  changed  as  they  came  down  the  summit  of  the 
pitch,  and  looked  down  upon  the  red  turbid  stream,  and 
the  steep  rocky  cleft  below  it,  down  which  the  waters 
were  raving  fiercely.  "  Ey  deary  me  !  but  there's  a  heavy 
fresh  on !  ay  doot  we'se  never  win  across't." 

"  We  shall  soon  know,"  said  Archer,  gathering  the 
horses  well  in  hand,  and  shaking  loose  the  thong  of  the 
four-horse  whip.  His  face  was  grave,  for  he  knew  that 
there  was  danger ;  but  his  eye  was  bright,  and  his  lip 
firm.       ^ 

The  stream  was  about  twelve  yards  over.  The  leaders 
entered  quietly,  and  for  two  or  three  steps  the  water 
did  not  reach  their  knees.  But  in  the  middle  there  was 
a  strong  current,  with  a  heavy  swirl. 

"Come,  come!  it  is  nothing,  after  all!"  shouted 
Frank,  joyously. 

"  Arn't  it  though  ?"  replied  Tom.  And  as  he  spoke 
the  leaders  were  weltering  up  to  the  saddle-laps,  and 
scarcely  able  to  keep  their  footing.  The  next  moment 
they  were  swimming,  and  the  wheelers  plunged  into 


THE     DEERSTALKERS.  27 

the  deep  hole,  the  wagon  following  them.  The  broad- 
side of  the  carriage  was  now  opposed  to  the  full  weight 
of  the  torrent,  for  such  indeed  it  almost  was,  just  as  all 
the  horses  had  relaxed  their  pull,  and  were  floundering 
heavily  in  the  water.  The  hind  wheels  were  swept 
round,  and  the  whole  carriage  began  to  yield  sensibly, 
and  drive  towards  the  rocks. 

By  this  time  the  leaders  were  on  sounder  ground,  and 
in  shallower  water,  and  their  pull  dragged  the  w^agon 
deeper  into  the  hole,  but  at  the  same  time  helped  the 
wheelers  somewhat,  and  enabled  them  to  touch  bottom 
with  their  fore  feet,  at  least.  At  this  critical  moment, 
Harry  rose  quickly  to  his  feet,  gave  his  reins  a  shake, 
uttered  a  shout,  and  brought  his  sharp  lash  down  in  a 
figure  of  eight,  striking  all  the  four  horses  nearly  simul- 
taneously, and  that  so  keenly  that  the  blood  sprang  from 
the  leaders. 

Together  they  all  bounded  to  the  lash,  w^th  snort  and 
plungt;,  auiid  the  flashing  water.  Everything  strained 
and  creaked  about  the  wagon  and  the  harness,  as  if  it 
must  have  gone  to  pieces.  Had  an}i:hing  broken  at  that 
moment,  they  must  have  been  swept  down  the  fall. 

But  nothing  failed  at  the  pinch.  The  next  moment 
the  leaders  were  straining  up  the  further  bank — the 
wheelers  had  found  good  foot-hold  on  the  gravel-bank. 
A  violent  jolt  followed,  as  the  fore-w^heels  were  dragged 
over  a  block  of  stone  at  the  water's  edge,  when  crack — 
crack — both  the  traces  of  the  near  leader  parted ;  and 


28  TPIE    DEERSTALKERS. 

almost  at  the  same  moment,  with  a  shivering  crash,  the 
off  horse's  bar  broke  in  the  eye.  The  leaders  were 
loose  but  for  the  reins  ;  and  for  a  moment,  though  hap- 
pily the  wagon  was  stuck  fast,  and  out  of  the  stream's 
way,  all  was  in  confusion. 

Not  a  word  had  been  spoken  since  Harry's  shout,  but 
now  all  was  merriment  and  bustle. 

"Jump  out,  Tim!  Jump  out  quick;  to  the  leaders' 
heads!     Never  mind  the  water." 

The  hardy  groom  was  out  in  a  moment.  He  scram- 
bled through  the  water,  and  up  the  Lank,  as  fast  as  his 
duck  legs  could  carry  him. 

He  had  the  horses  by  the  bits  in  a  second,  and  Harry 
flinging  loose  the  leaders'  reins,  which  were  unbuckled, 
they  were  led  off  and  tied  to  a  tree,  in  less  time  than  it 
takes  to  describe  it. 

"What's  to  be  done  now^,  Harry?"  asked  Frank. 
"  How  the  deuce  is  this  to  be  righted  ?" 

"  You'll  see !  Sit  still,  that's  all !  Get  away,  lads !" 
he  added,  touching  the  wheelers  gently  with  the  whip. 

A  steady  pull  released  the  wagon  from  the  stones, 
and  drew  it  up  the  bank  to  the  spot  where  Tim  stood 
with  the  leaders. 

"  Now  look  alive,  lads.  Forester,  just  unhitch  that 
spare  set  of  bars  from  the  back  of  your  seat — there, 
don't  you  see  them  ?  Get  out  the  spare  traces,  Timothy, 
and  the  wrench  from  the  harness-trunk — that's  it,  look 
alive,  for  it's  growing  dark  apace." 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  29 

And  by  dint  of  deliberate  activity,  and  well  directed 
exertion,  not  ten  minutes  had  elapsed  before  the  broken 
bars  were  removed,  and  the  spare  set  substituted; 
fresh  traces  buckled  on,  and  the  fragments  of  the  old 
ones  thrown  into  the  bottom  of  the  w^agon. 

Within  a  quarter  of  an  hour  they  were  rattling  away 
along  the  road  all  a-taunto,  and  w^ithout  a  trace  of  their 
recent  accident,  merry  and  noisy,  through  the  fast-fading 
tw^ilight  which  waned  betimes,  in  the  deep  gorges  of 
those  woodland  hills. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  NIGHT-DRIVE. 

The  wolf's  long  howl  from  Oonalaska's  shore. 

Campbell. 

The  sun  had  entirely  set  before  Archer's  gallant 
team  had  whisked  the  shooting  wagon  over  the  summit 
of  the  first  ridge  beyond  the  scene  of  their  quickly-re- 
paired accident. 

There  was  still,  however,  a  lingering  crimson  flush 
on  the  western  sky,  against  which  the  broad-backed 
mountains  stood  out  erect,  massive  in  purple  majesty, 
as  if  they  had  perpendicular  ramparts  of  granite.  High 
overhead,  the  stars  were  twinkling  clear  and  bright  in 
the  dark  azure  vault,  up  which  the  thread-like  crescent 
of  the  young  moon  was  climbing,  with  one  large  lus- 
trous planet  at  her  side. 

The  atmosphere  was  pure  and  breathless,  and  so  still 
that  not  a  sound  of  any  kind  was  to  be  heard,  except 
the  quick  clatter  of  the  hoofs  on  the  frozen  road,  and 
the  slight  rumbling  noise  of  the  well-built  carriage. 

About  a  mile  distant  from  the  broken  bridge,  the 


VHE    DEERSTALK Ens.  31 

by  7oaJ  which  crossed  it  entered  a  broader  and  more 
beaten  way,  lying  at  right  angles,  or  nearly  so,  to  its 
previous  course,  and  running  through  a  glen  of  the 
same  character  with  that  through  w^hich  the  travellers 
had  been  journeying,  though  somewhat  wider,  and 
watered  by  what  might  be  called  a  river. 

In  order  to  reach  this  valley,  the  road  they  had  been 
follow^ing,  which  hitherto  had  wound  in  and  out  among 
the  hills,  through  twenty  little  dells  and  basins,  crossing 
at  most  but  the  low^er  spurs  of  the  wooded  ranges,  here 
breasted  by  the  main  western  ridge,  scaled  it  boldly  in 
a  series  of  steep  zigzags,  partly  scarped  in  the  hill- 
side, partly  supported  by  piles  and  breastworks  of 
timber. 

The  branches  of  the  trees  crossed  overhead,  forming 
a  roof  like  that  of  a  gothic  aisle;  and,  as  is  usual,  the 
frosts  of  autumn  had  taken  much  less  hold  on  the  foli- 
age w^here  the  upland  soil  was  dry,  although  rich,  than 
it  had  done  in  the  sour  and  watery  swamps  of  the 
valley. 

Not  a  ray,  therefore,  penetrated  the  dense  canopy  of 
boughs,  and  the  road  was  as  dark  as  a  closed  room  at 
midnight. 

Harry  was  laughing  and  talking  merrily  as  they  left 
the  line  of  the  valley,  and,  to  say  the  truth,  took  no  note 
of  the  darkness  so  long  as  the  road  continued  straight. 
But  after  it  had  ascended,  perhaps  a  hundred  yards  in 
a  rie'ht  line,  there  was  a  sharp  and   awkw^ard  angle. 


32  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

The  leaders,  as  is  usually  the  case,  tried  to  turn  too 
quickly,  and  as  the  side  of  the  road  to  which  they  were 
bearing  was  that  which  fell  abruptly  down  into  the  valley, 
Harry  met  them  with  a' firm  hand,  holding  them  to  the 
hill,  though  unable  to  see  a  foot  in  front  of  the  wheels. 
Luckily,  at  this  moment,  the  fore  wheels  rose  over  a 
little  mound,  plunged  down  on  the  other  side,  and  were 
followed  by  the  hind  wheels,  with  the  same  uneasy  jerk- 
ing motion.  The  next  instant,  Archer  pulled  up  the 
horses,  backed  them  the  least  in  the  world,  and  they 
stood  motionless,  with  their  traces  slackened,  and  the 
vehicle  prevented  from  backing  down  hill  by  the  jog,  as 
it  is  called,  or  little  gully,  made  to  prevent  the  wintry 
rains  from  washing  the  steep  roads,  as  is  generally  the 
case  in  those  mountain  regions. 

"  Tim  !"  exclaimed  Harry,  quickly,  almost  before 
the  wagon  had  become  motionless. 

"Ay!  ay!  sur,"  answered  the  sharp-witted  York- 
shireman.  But  to  Tom  Draw's  huge  amazement,  and 
something,  be  it  added,  to  that  of  his  master  likewise, 
the  short  sonorous  response  came  from  the  heads  of  the 
horses,  and  not,  as  both  had  expected,  from  the  back 
seat  of  the  dog-cart. 

"  Tim,  we  must  have  the  lamps,"  said  Harry ,*well 
knowing  that  in  the  nil  admirari  lies  half  the  secret  of 
being  well  and  promptly  served.  <«  The  road  is  as 
<lark  as  a  black  dog's  mouth.  I  cannot  see  the  gray 
wheeler's  ears,  let  alone  the  leader's." 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  33 

<«  Ay's  \vaiTant  it,"  replied  the  groom.  "Ay  kenned 
that  varra  weel,  afore  at  you  quit  t'  valley.  Soa  thinks 
ay  to  mysen,  there's  be  a  fash  enow,  wi'  t'  leaders,  an' 
ay'll  be  needed  at  t'  heads  on  'em  laike.  Soa  I  joost 
slipped  out  ahint  t'  wagon,  and  well  it  is,  ay  wot,  ay 
thousrht  on't,  for  t'  leaders  wud  hae  been  doon  t'  bank 
in  anoother  minnit." 

<' Quite  right,  Tim,  quite  right!"  said  his  master', 
approvingly.  '-'- 1  was  thinking  of  something  else,  or  I 
would  have  lighted  up  before  we  got  into  the  woods. 
Now  look  alive,  man ;  you  have  got  candles  in  the 
lamps,  I  hope  ?" 

"Ay!  ay!  sur  ;  two  i' t' great  lamp  unner  t' foot- 
board, and  one  in  each  of  t'  others.  Boot  t'  matches 
are  i'  t'  tool-chest,  yonner.  Now,  Measter  Forester, 
gin  you'll  please  joost  joomp  out,  an'  stand  to  t'  leaders 
whaile  ay  get  'em,  we'll  have  laight  enoof  enow." 

"  Good  Lord  !  jump  out,  indeed  !  I  shall  break  my 
neck,  and  go  head-over-heels  down  the  crags,"  he  re- 
sponded, half  in  fun,  half  in  earnest,  and  with  a  sort  of 
dolorous  tone,  that  showed  he  was  far  from  beinsr  sure 
that  his  words  would  not  be  realized. 

<■(  Get  out  on  the  off-side,  Frank,  between  the  wasron 
and  the  hill ;  you'll  do  well  enough  there.    That  is  it." 

"  What  you  say  right  is  perfectly  true,  Harry,"  re- 
plied Frank,  scrambling  out  of  tlie  bearskins,  in  which 
he  was  rolled  up  so  snugly,  and  making  for  the  horses' 
heads,  which  he  reached  in  a  minute.     "  But  what  the 


34  THE    DL'.EnSTALPiERS. 

plague  have  you  done  with  old  Tom  ?  I  haven't  heard 
d  word  —  no,  not  an  oath,  even  —  since  we  stopped. 
Punch  him  in  the  ribs,  Harry." 

"No!  no!"  shouted  the  fat  man,  lustily.  "Don't 
you  dew  that — don't  you  dew  that,  I  say.  I  swan,  Fll 
fix  you,  little  Wax-ski  i,  when  we  gits  to  Jake's." 

"Oh!  you're  aAvake  now%  are  you.'^"  replied  the 
other,  laughing.     "  Was  he  asleep,  Harry.?" 

"I  rather  think  not,  Frank,"  answered  Archer,  "for 
I  have  heard  a  noise  for  the  last  ten  minutes,  not  quite 
so  loud  as  Niagara,  it  is  true,  but  about  as  loud  as 
Paterson  Falls,  I  should  say — a  constant,  gurgling  fall, 
as  if  of  a  good  strong  river ;  and  there's  a  devil  of  a 
smell  of  rum  here  now." 

"  'Taint  rum,"  responded  the  fat  man,  indignantly, 
"  it's  good  old  apple-jack.  Little  Wax-skin,  there,  would 
give  his  eyes  for  a  sup  of  it.  That's  good  ;  there  comes 
tlie  lamps,"  he  added,  as  Timothy,  after  bustling  about, 
and  jingling  for  some  minutes  in  the  tool-chest,  made 
his  appearance  with  a  small  glass  lanthorn,  and  some 
matches,  by  aid  of  which  he  soon  lighted  the  lamps ; 
and  these,  with  their  strong  magnifying-glasses,  made 
the  whole  road  as  clear  as  day,  and  cast  a  broad  w^hite 
glare  upward  upon  the  many-coloured  leaves,  which 
formed  the  vault  overhead. 

"Don't  put  it  out,  Tim,"  said  his  master,  "we'll 
blow  a  cloud  directly.  That  will  do,  Frank,  lad.  Just 
turn  their  noses  into  the  road  again,  and  then  jump  in 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  35 

and  make  yourself  comfortable.  The  big  cigar-case  is 
under  your  seat,  there  ;  just  hand  it  out  and  help  your- 
self, and  then  pass  it  forward  ;  I  have  not  one  left  in 
my  pouch." 

"  Now,  then  !"  he  added,  after  a  minute's  pause,  du- 
rinsf  which  three  Manilla  cheroots  w^ere  kindled,  and  a 
rich  odour  of  the  Indian  weed  diffused  through  the 
cold  still  atmosphere. 

"  All's  right !  "  responded  Timothy,  and  sprang  in  a 
moment  into  his  seat,  just  as  Archer,  gathering  his  reins, 
and  reaching  his  whip  from  the  socket,  uttered  a  low 
soft  whistle,  and  a  "  Get  away,  lads !" 

There  w^as  a  rattling  of  bars,  a  clash  of  hoofs,  and  a 
pebble  or  tw^o  flew  high  into  the  air ;  and  then,  without 
more  ado,  the  four  fleet  horses  w^ere  in  merry  motion. 

The  clear  light  flashed  along  the  road,  silvered  the 
mossy  bolls  of  the  huge  trees,  and  cast  strange  waver- 
ing sheets  of  alternate  shade  and  lustre  through  the  deep 
forest-aisles.  Several  times,  as  they  were  w^hirled  along 
at  ten  miles  an  hour,  a  heavy  flapping  of  huge  wrings, 
and  a  wild  dolorous  screech  from  some  tall  tree,  an- 
nounced that  their  lamps  had  aroused  some  large  night- 
bird  from  its  slumbers ;  and  once,  just  as  they  cleared 
the  woods  and  issued  into  an  open  field  on  the  moun- 
tain's brow,  a  long  protracted  howl  rose  fearfully  into 
the  silence,  not,  as  it  would  seem,  above  fifty  yards  be- 
hind them. 

"  What  in  the  devil's  name  is    that  ?"  said  Frank, 


36  TIIK    DKKKSTALKKRS. 

hastily,  laying  his  hand  almost  instinctively  on  the  but 
ui"  one  of  the  long  duelling-pistols,  a  brace  of  which,  in 
leathern  holsters,  were  attached  to  each  seat  ready  for 
instant  service. 

"  Yon's  a  varra  oogly  noise,  is  yon  !"  exclaimed  Ti- 
mothy, astonished,  which  by  the  way  was  for  him  a 
rare  state  of  mind. 

"  I  swan  that's  a  wolf  .'"shouted  Fat  Tom,  answering 
the  question  an^  the  observation  at  the  moment  of  their 
utterance.     For  all  three  spoke  simultaneously. 

"  A  wolf,  is  it  ?"  said  Forester,  quietly  removing  his 
hand  from  the  weapon,  for  he  knew  the  habits  of  the  ani- 
mal, though  he  had  never  seen  one,  too  well  to  anticipate 
any  danger.  "  I  did  not  know  you  had  any  of  the  var- 
mints here." 

"A  wolf!"  exclaimed  Timothy,  making  a  plunge 
under  the  bearskins  for  his  master's  rifle  ;  ''  heart  aloive  I 
w^e's  be  all  eaten  oop  i'  noa  time." 

"  Nonsense,  Tim,"  replied  Harry,  laughing,  "  there's 
no  danger.  Wolves  never  meddle  with  men  here  nowa- 
days. But  I  did  not  think  there  were  any  left  in  this 
quarter." 

"  Nor  I  nuther,"  interposed  old  Tom,  scratching  his 
head  and  cogitating.  "  Nor  there  aint  been  none  hereaway 
these  six  or  eight  year.  We're  a  goin'  to  have  a  hard 
winter  now,  I  reckon.  Leastwise  they  say  hard  w^eather 
to  the  norrad  brings  down  the  tarnal  critters  this  away. 
But  Fm  right  glad  to  hear  him  howl,  hows'ever." 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  37 

"Glad  I  why  the  deuce  are  you  glad,  Tom?"  asked 
Harry.  And  this  again  was  rather  an  unusual  occur- 
rence ;  for  so  well  did  Archer  understand  the  bent  of  the 
fat  worthy's  genius,  that  he  but  rarely  asked  an  expla- 
nation. 

"  'Caze  when  you  hears  a  wolf  howl,  Aircher,"  he 
made  answer,  "you  may  be  sure  game  is  either  very 
plenty  or  very  scace,  one  or  other.  Now  it  aint  nohow 
possible  as  that  chap  should  be  druv  by  hunger  to  make 
that  'ere  dismal  screechin',  for  everybody  here  knows 
that  the  woods  is  full  o'  possums  and  rabbits.  So  it  must 
be  'caze  deers  is  plenty  that  he's  hollering ;  that's  why 
I  says  I'm  glad,  Aircher.  I'd  a  thought,  too,  you'd  have 
had  sense  enou2:h  to  a  knowed  it." 

"  May  it  not  be  that  it's  because  possum's  plenty  that 
he's  '  hollering'  ?"  asked  Frank  slyly. 

"No!"  answered  Tom  very  gruffly,  as  he  inhaled  a 
long  puff  of  smoke,  and  blew  it  out  again  slowly.  "  No, 
and  you  knows  it." 

"Indeed  I  do  not,  Tom,"  replied  Frank,  with  a  laugh 
which  he  vainly  endeavoured  to  stifle.  "  I  know  nothing 
about  wolves  nor  possums  either.     Do  tell  us." 

"  You  lie,  boy  !  you  dew  know.  And  you'll  raise  no 
foolin'  out  o'  me,  I  can  tell  you.  So  quit.  Now,  Timo- 
thy, git  out  your  old  bull's  horn  and  blow  up.  Them 
lights  as  you  see  down  yonder  is  at  Jake's,  and  I  can 
see  by  the  way  they're  a  fixin'  and  manoeuvrin'  that 
they're  a  gittin'  things  fixed  to  go  to  bed  torights.    Put 


38  THK    BKl.RSTALKKRS. 

on,  Harry '  put  on,  boy ;  it's  all  good  road  now,  though 
it  he's  down  hill  a  leetle." 

It  certainly  was  down  hill  a  little^  for  the  road  lay  at 
an  angle  of  some  forty -five  degrees.  Yet  Harry  took 
the  old  Trojan  at  his  word,  and  put  the  nags  along,  and, 
holding  them  well  in  hand,  it  was  with  the  jingling  of 
trace  and  curb-chains,  the  clatter  of  the  bars,  rattlino^ 
against  the  wheelers'  houghs,  and  the  roll  of  the  rapid 
wheels,  that  they  thundered  down  the  slope ;  while  loud 
above  all  the  din  rose  the  clear  mellow  notes  of  Tim 
Matlock's  well  known  bugle,  making  the  gorges  of  the 
Blue  Hills  to  resound  with  the  unusual  cadences  of  "  God 
save  the  king." 

As  they  came  wheeling  round  the  angle,  into  the 
broader  valley,  they  passed  a  foaming  mill-dam,  barring 
the  little  river,  overhung  by  a  dozen  large  weeping  wil- 
lows, the  foliage  of  which  was  still  full  and  verdant. 
A  large,  calm  pool,  reflecting  the  bright  starry  skies 
and  the  dark  tufted  masses  of  the  precipitous  hill  which 
walled  its  further  side,  lay  close  to  the  left  hand  of  the 
road,  and  was  but  slightly  separated  from  it  by  a  rough 
fence  of  unbarked  cedar  poles  from  the  mountain.  On 
the  right,  all  the  level  space  between  the  road  and  the 
other  hill,  not  exceeding  fifty  yards  in  width,  was  covered 
with  a  beautiful  second-growth  of  oak,  hickory,  and 
maple,  overhanging  a  thick  underwood  of  cranberry 
and  wintergreens,  interspersed  with  the  glossy  leaves  of 
the  calmia,  the  azalia,  and  the  rhododendron. 


» 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  39 

Among  this  rich  woodland  was  the  little  tavern,  to 
which  they  were  bound,  nestled  so  closely  that  its  ex- 
istence might  have  remained  unsuspected  until  the  tra- 
veller was  almost  in  front  of  its  long,  low^,  Dutch  portico, 
formed  by  a  projection  of  the  shingled  eaves,  and  of  its 
stately  signpost. 

Harry,  however,  knew  the  locale  right  well,  and  haa 
his  horses  in  hand ;  and  as  he  shaved  the  trunk  of  a 
huge  chesnut,  which  formed  the  boundary  post  of  the 
little  green  before  the  door,  he  pulled  up  instantly,  amid 
the  light  of  a  dozen  candles  and  lanthorns  ;  for  the  well- 
knowm  sound  of  his  key-bugle  had  roused  all  the  inhabi- 
tants, and  it  was  in  the  midst  of  a  deafening  shout  of 
cacophonous  laughter,  and  of  <'  Ky !  Masser  Harrys  !'* 
announcing  half  the  company,  at  least,  to  be  Dutch 
negroes,  that  the  friends  jumped  to  the  ground,  their 
night-dave  pleasantly  concluded. 


110 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  HUNTER'S  YARN. 

By  night  I  heard  them  on  our  track, 
Their  troop  came  hard  upon  our  back, 
With  their  long  gallop,  which  can  tire 
The  hound's  deep  hate  and  hunter's  fire. 

Mazeppa. 

The  room,  into  which  our  sporting  friends  were  in- 
troduced by  Dutch  Jake,  himself,  w^as  a  long  and  narrow 
apartment  occupying  the  whole  breadth,  and  one-third 
of  the  length  of  the  whole  house.  It  was  lighted  by 
day  by  six  small  windows,  three  on  each  side,  and  by 
two  narrow  glass-doors,  that  through  which  our  sports- 
men had  gained  admittance,  and  a  second  directly 
opposite  to  it ;  and  by  night,  as  in  the  present  in- 
stance, by  half  a  dozen  sconces,  with  marvellously  dirty 
tin  reflectors,  attached  to  the  wall,  each  containing  one 
large  home-made  tallow  candle.  Had  this  been  all  tlie 
illumination,  however,  of  the  long,  dingy,  low-ceiled 
room,  it  would  have  barely  sufficed  to  make  the  darkness 
visible  ;  but,  as  it  was,  a  huge  pile  of  hickory  logs,  blaz- 
ing and  snapping  in  a  vast  open  fire-place,  sending  broad 

40 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  41 

sheets  of  tiame  up  the  wide-throated  chimney,  and  great 
volumes  of  smoke,  at  intervals,  into  the  room,  diffused 
both  vrarmth  and  lustre  through  the  place. 

At  the  right  hand  of  the  door  by  which  they  entered, 
was  the  bar  itself,  with  a  narrow,  semicircular  counter, 
protected  by  stout  wooden  bars,  and  a  sliding-door. 
The  shelves  of  this  sanctum  were  garnished  with  sun- 
dry kegs  of  liquor,  painted  bright  green,  and  labelled 
w^ith  the  names  of  the  contents,  in  black  characters  on 
gilded  scrolls.  These,  with  two  or  three  dull-looking 
decanters  of  snakeroot-w^hiskey,  and  other  kinds  of 
<<  bitters ;"  a  dozen  heavy-bottomed  tumblers,  resem- 
bling in  shape  the  half  of  an  hour-glass,  set  up  on  the 
small  end  ;  a  wooden  box  of  whity-brown  crushed  sugar, 
which  professed  to  be  white,  and  a  considerable  array 
of  tobacco-pipes,  constituted  all  the  furniture  of  Jake's 
bar,  and  promised  but  little,  as  Tom  Draw  had  fore- 
warned his  young  associates,  for  the  drinkableness  of 
the  Dutchman's  drinkables. 

Unpalatable,  however,  as  they  appeared,  and  as  they 
would  probably  have  turned  out  on  a  trial,  to  the  refined 
tastes  of  our  sporting  epicures,  it  seemed  that  they 
were  looked  upon  in  a  very  different  light  by  the  assem- 
bled magnates  of  the  neighbourhood,  who,  in  great 
numbers,  and  great  glee,  came  thronging  towards  the 
door  to  gape  at  the  new-comers. 

They  had  just  ceased  from  a  regular  breakdown 
Dutch  dance,  which  they  had  been  plying  most  uproari- 


42  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

ously  and  most  industriously  to  the  obstreperous  braying 
of  a  fiddle,  worked  by  a  fifty-horse-power  coal-black 
white-headed  negro,  assisted  by  a  shrill  squeaking  flute 
and  a  jingling  tambourine,  shrieked  on  and  hammered, 
with  proportionate  energies  by  his  sons,  as  it  was  easy 
to  perceive  by  their  precise  similarity  in  hue  and  feature 
with  the  old  fiddler. 

All  the  three,  despite  the  difference  of  hue  and  race, 
appeared  to  be  on  the  best  and  most  intimate  footing 
with  all  present ;  and  the  whole  crowd,  seeing  that  the 
new-comers  were  neither  friends  nor  acquaintances, 
crowded  to  the  bar,  and  took  advantage  of  the  tempo- 
rary cessation  of  the  breakdown,  to  liquor  on  the  largest 
scale  and  in  the  most  promiscuous  fashion,  men  and  girls, 
black  and  white,  altogether. 

"  Hallo  I  Jake  !"  exclaimed  Fat  Tom,  as  he  entered, 
affecting  to  stare  about  as  if  he  could  hardly  see,  "  what 
in  creation  makes  it  so  all-fired  dark  in  here  ?  why,  I 

carn't  see  my  way  to  the  bar,  if  so  be  there  be  one." 
"Veil,  Mishter  Traw,"  responded  the  old  Dutchman, 

"  I  ton't  see  tat  it  pe  so  tark— put  te  teyfll !  it  most  pe 

te  shmokes,  for  de  tamn'd  chimbly" — 

"  No  !  no !  it  arn't,  Jake,"  interrupted  Tom,  "  it  arn't 

the  smoke  nor  the  chimney,  nohow.     I'll  nose  it  out 

torights,  I  tell  you.    It's  the  darned  niggers,  I  guess. 

It's  the  niggers,  sartin  I  why,  there's  enough  on   em  to 

make  the  moonshine  dark !" 

This  most  characteristic  speech  on  the  part  of  the 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  43 

jolly  publican,  called  forth  a  burst  of  good-humoured 
and  resounding  laughter  from  the  black  portion  of  the 
company,  the  blackest  of  whom  are  wont  in  mirthful  or 
ancrry  objurgation  to  vituperate  one  another  as  "  brack 
niggas  ;"  but  it  was  by  no  means  so  complacently  received 
by  the  \\hite  company,  many  of  the  younger  members 
of  which  were  aware  that  out  of  the  Dutch  settle- 
ments it  is  looked  on  as  a  reproach  to  hold  the  slightest 
intercourse  in  hours  of  relaxation  with  the  free  negro, 
much  more  to  eat  at  the  same  board,  or  drink  in  com- 
pany with  him ;  and  several  of  these  were  not  a  little 
disposed  to  resent  the  bold  jest  of  the  bluff  speaker. 

Little  cared  jolly  Tom  for  that,  however ;  but  seeino- 
the  bended  brows  and  lowering  looks  of  some  of  the 
gigantic  Dutchmen,  he  would  in  all  probability  have 
proceeded  in  a  strain  yet  more  offensive,  and  w^ould  very 
likely  have  produced  a  general  row,  if  Harry,  who 
entered  the  room  a  moment  after  him,  had  not  interposed 
promptly  and  effectively  to  preserve  the  peace. 

"  The  poor  old  man's  very  drunk,  gentlemen,"  he 
said,  with  his  frank  and  cheery  smile  ;  "  a  thino-,  I'm 
sorry  to  say,  that  happens  to  him  very  often ;  but  he's 
mad  now  into  the  bargain,  which  I  don't  w^onder  at,  for 
he  wanted  to  kiss  a  very  nice  young  wench  as  we  came 
along,  and  she  wouldn't  have  him  on  any  terms  I" 

"Kiss  the  dev— "  Tom  began  to  reply,  furiously 
indignant,  but  he  was  interrupted  by  about  a  dozen 
voices,  eager  and  loud  in  inquiry  into  particulars;  for  so 


44  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

seriously  had  Harry  spoken,  that  half  the  young  men 
believed  him  to  be  in  earnest. 

"Do  tell,"  said  one ;  "  where  was't?" 

"  I  ton't  know  of  no  naice  yong  venches  on  de  roat 
to  York,"  cried  another. 

"I  cannot  exactly  tell  you,  gentlemen,"  replied  Harry, 
still  preserving  his  gravity  admirably ;  "as  I  am  not 
well  acquainted  with  your  country,  or  with  the  names 
of  places.  But  I  think  I  can  describe  it  to  you.  You 
all  know  the  old  beaver-dam,  I  fancy,  and  the  bridge ; 
well,  just  beyond  that  there's  a  big  hill ;  and,  beyond 
that  again,  a  deep  wet  swamp ;  and  across  that  a  moun- 
tain, with  a  toll-gate  on  the  far  side — " 

"Yes,  yes — I  know^  —  I  know  ferry  veil.  Dat's 
Hans  Schneider's  dole-gate.  Veil !  dere's  no  yong  vench 
dere  I" 

"  No,  no — not  there — but  in  a  little  hovel  about  two- 
thirds  up  the  mountain.  The  road  was  so  steep  that  I 
made  the  fat  man  get  out  and  walk  up,  and  just  as  he 
got  opposite  the  door,  she  came  out  with  a  tin  pail  to 
fetch  some  water,  and  he  tried — " 

"  Mein  Got !  It's  old  Shuno  dat  he  meansh ;  old 
Tave's  fraw  i" 

"  Tousand  teyfils  !  She  pe  olter  nor  a  huntert  year." 

"  Ant  oglier  as  de  ferry  Olt  Nick  !" 

"  Tid  he,  py  Cot !  vant  to  kish  olt  Shuno  ?  Bonder 
ant  teyfil !  vat  a  peasht I" 

"Ant  she  voultn't  haf  him  no  vays.     By  Got!   I 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  45 

ton't  vonter  as  lie  pe  mat  mit  de  colour  peoples,  arter 
tat." 

What  were  Fat  Tom's  emotions,  at  this  strange  inven- 
tion of  Harry's,  it  would  be  difficult  to  say ;  for  in  the 
first  instance  his  face  turned  as  red  as  fire,  and  his  eyes 
gleamed  angrily  from  beneath  the  overhanging  pent- 
house of  his  heavy  gray  eyebrows;  but  at  the  numerous 
wondering  expressions  of  the  credulous  and  astonished 
Dutchmen,  at  the  abhorrent  and  disgusted  looks  of  the 
girls,  many  of  whom  were  very  young  and  plump  and 
pretty,  and  above  all  at  the  intense  delight  of  the  ne- 
groes, who  stamped,  and  yelled  with  laughter,  and 
positively  rolled  on  the  floor  in  their  mad  glee,  the  old 
man's  face  relaxed.  A  joke  was  always  too  much  for 
him,  even  if  it  w^ere,  as  in  the  present  instance,  at  his 
own  expense. 

"Well,  well,"  he  said,  "boys,  t'aint  jist  right  to 
tell  tales  on  the  party.  See  if  I  beant  quits  with  you 
afore  long !  But  so  be  you  has  told,  I  don't  see  but 
I've  got  to  stand  treats  for^the  company.  Jake,  you 
darned  old  cuss,  look  alive,  carn't  you?  and  make  a 
gallon  of  hot  Dutch  rum,  torights ;  and  if  that  ar'n't 
enough  for  all  hands,  make  two.  If  I  carn't  kiss 
wenches,  I'd  be  pleased  to  see  if  some  of  these  all-fired 
pretty  white  gals  won't  be  a-kissin'  me,  afore  the 
night's  done,  anyhow." 

"  /  von't  den,  anyhow,  for  fon  !"  said  a  very  pretty 
little  blue-eyed  girl,  with  a  profusion  of  long  Hght  brown 


46  THE    DLER STALKERS. 

curls,  who  had  been  listening  with  her  bright  eyes  dis- 
tended to  their  utmost. 

"  Yovfun  /"  exclaimed  Fat  Tom,  intentionally  misun- 
derstanding her  meaning,  and  making  at  her  with  a 
moment's  hesitation.  "By  the  Etarnal !  'tarn't  for  fun 
I  kisses,  I'd  have  you  to  know — it's  in  right  down  most 
all-fired  airnest." 

"  No,  no,  old  man !"  interposed  Harry,  stepping 
between  Tom  and  the  ^irl.  "Don't  be  afraid,  my 
pretty  lassie,  he  shall  not  touch  you,  he's  too  old  alto- 
gether for  such  a  pretty  girl  as  you." 

"  Ant  ferry  moche  too  ogly !"  answered  the  girl, 
laughing  joyously. 

"  Here's  metal  more  attractive,  perhaps,"  said  Harry, 
seizing  Frank  Forester,  and  dragging  him  forward  as 
he  spoke. 

"  No,  no.  He  mopen't  mettle  mit  me  neider,"  said 
the  girl,  still  laughing.  "  Fd  all  as  fon  pe  a  kissing  te 
old  cat,  mit  all  tat  nashty  hair  on  his  lip,  shost  as  pad, 
mine  Got,  nor  fon  olt  racoon  I" 

A  fresh  burst  of  laug-hter,  from  the  whole  room,  now 
followed  this  peculiarly  acceptable  repartee,  in  allusion 
to  the  thick  yellow  moustache  which  covered  the  whole 
of  Frank's  upper  lip;  and  under  cover  of  the  laugh, 
Harry  snatche'l  a  hearty  kiss  from  the  laughing  lips  of 
the  little  coquette,  saying,  as  he  did  so — 

''  It's  hard  if  one  of  the  lot  won't  suit  you  I" 

"  It  ain't  you  den,  mit  your  imputence,"  she  answered. 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.        •  47 

blushing  a  good  deal,  and  fetching  him  a  crack  on  the 
side  of  the  head,  which  made  his  cheek  tingle,  and  his 
ear  hum  for  half  an  hour.  "  Kiss  me  again,  den,  von't 
you  ?" 

"Certainly,  if  you  wish  it,"  answered  Harry,  nothing 
daunted — and  suiting  the  action  to  the  w^ord,  he  caught 
her  in  his  arms,  and  bestowed  upon  her,  not  one,  but 
half  a  dozen  long  and  sonorous  busses ;  w^hich,  as  he 
afterward  asseverated,  though  she  affected  to  struggle 
and  resist  with  all  her  might,  she  returned  with  good 
interest. 

Most  of  the  company  laughed  loudly  at  this  interlude, 
which  seemed  to  pass  as  a  matter  of  course ;  but  one  raw- 
boned  young  Dutchman,  who  had  been  dancing  w-ith  the 
girl  half  the  evening,  began  to  look  something  more  than 
minacious,  when  the  Dutch  rum  made  its  appearance, 
and  the  rich,  spicy  odour  dissipated  in  a  twinkling  his 
fast-rising  choler. 

The  strange  compound  of  Santa  Cruz  rum,  boiling 
water,  allspice,  browm  sugar,  pepper-corns,  and— start  not, 
gentle  reader,  w^hen  I  add — butter,  passed  around  with 
clattering  of  glasses,  gurgling  imbibition,  and  loud  laugh- 
ter, under  cover  of  which  our  friends  stole  aw^ay,  by  a 
door  close  to  the  fireplace,  leaving  the  rustic  ball  to  re- 
commence with  new  din  and  spirit,  after  an  interruption 
which  had  turned  out  so  acceptable  to  all  parties  present. 

"  Now,  Jake,"  said  Harry  to  the  landlord,  who  had 
ushered  them  into  a  sort  of  sanctum,  in  a  projecting  wing 


^  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

of  the  old  stone  tavern,  which  had  a  separate  com- 
munication with  the  rest  of  the  house — "you  can  get 
us  something  to  eat,  I  suppose;  we  have  not  had  a 
mouthful  since  one  o'clock,  and  are  half  dead  with  hun- 
ger. You  got  my  letter,  I  suppose,  to  tell  you  we  would 
be  here  to-night?" 

"  Sartin,"  replied  old  Jake.  I  cot  it  yeshtertay. 
Mein  Cot!  yesh.  I  can  kive  you  fresh  eggs  and  ham, 
and  de  shmoke  peef,  petter  as  nothink!" 

"  Well,  look  you  here,  we  have  brought  up  some  cold 
meat  with  us.  Do  you  have  some  potatoes  roasted  in 
the  ashes,  and  let  us  have  some  of  your  best  butter,  and 
brown  bread,  and  let  my  man  Timothy  do  whatever  he 
wants  to  do  in  the  kitchen.  Send  a  couple  of  your  boys 
to  take  care  of  the  horses ;  and  let  another  run  over  to 
Dolph  Pierson's,  and  tell  him  we  are  here,  and  want 
him  to  come  up  to  supper." 

"  Tolph  vas  here  not  an  hour  since,  ant  I  dolt  him  as 
you  vas  a  comin' ;  ant  he'll  pe  here  mitout  my  sendin  de 
poy.  Veil !  I'll  ko  stret  avay,  ant  pid  de  women  volks 
purn  de  potatoes,  ant  sent  de  pooter  ant  de  preat,  ant 
make  de  hot  vater  for  de  poonch — you'll  pe  a  vantin 
poonch — any  ting  elshe,  Mishter  Archur  ?" 

"  Yes  !  have  you  got  any  ice  ?" 

«  A  plenties!" 

"  Send  in  a  good  big  tub  full  of  it,  broken  small.  Do 
that  first — will  you,  Jake?" 

"  I  fill,"  answered  the  old  man,  "  and  see,  here  cooms 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  49 

de  man  Dimoty.  You  tell  him  vat  you'll  pe  a  van  ting, 
ant  fe'll  pe  a  doing  it  raight  anyvays." 

And  as  he  spoke  he  left  the  room — while  the  little 
Yorkshireman  entered  it  from  the  offices,  clean-rigged, 
and  washed  already,  and  followed  by  two  negroes,  car- 
rying, the  one  a  couple  of  champagne  baskets,  and  the 
other  a  large  and  apparently  heavy  chest  of  live-oak 
board  with  iron  at 'the  corners.  Timothy  himself  bore 
a  smaller  case  of  Russia  leather,  which  he  deposited  on 
a  side  table,  the  negroes  arranging  their  burthens  on 
either  side  the  fire-place. 

"  Noo,  bring  t'  goon  caases  in,"  said  Timothy,  "  and 
t'  little  leather  troonk  wi  t'  shot  and  t'  powther,"  and 
then  turning  to  Harry,  he  continued  — "  T'  horses  is 
sorted  doon  bonnily,  and  all  four  on  'em  are  tooking  into 
1'  oats  laike  bricks,  Measter  Aircher.  You'll  be  a  wan- 
tin'  soopper  noo,  ay  reckon,  at  least,  ay  sure  mysen, 
ay's  varra  hoongry." 

"So  are  we,  Timothy;  and  I  trust  you  have  some- 
thing eatable  in  the  travelling-case ;  for  there  is  nothino- 
to  be  got  here  but  bread  and  butter." 

"  Ay've  got  twa  brace  o'  t'  cauld  larded  partridges — 
a  brace  o'  t'  soommer  dooks  ready  for  broiling — a  cauld 
ham  simmered  i'  champao^ne — and  a  goose-paie,  'at  ay 
maad  mysen,  fit  for  t'  Queen,  God  bless  her!" 

"  Excellent  well,  indeed,  Timothy.  You  are  a  ca- 
terer worth  a  thousand.  Ah!  here  comes  the  ice.  Now 
look  sharp,  get  out  four  bottles  of  champagne,  and  stick 


50  THE    D.'^.ERSTALKERS. 

them  into  that  tub.  We'll  keep  the  wood-duck  and 
the  goose-pie  for  to-morrow.  We'll  have  a  brace 
of  the  larded  grouse,  and  the  ham  to-night.  You  go 
and  see  to  the  roasting  of  the  potatoes,  and  make  a 
good  big  omelet.  Have  you  brought  any  parsley  with 
you  ?" 

"  Lots  on't,  sur — and  a  doozen  or  twa  little  ingans, 
and  soom  tarragon.  Ay's  mak  a  first-rate  omelet,  ay's 
oophaud  it." 

"  Very  well,  then  look  quick  about  it,  and  leave  us 
the  keys.  We'll  get  the  things  out,  and  lay  the  table, 
this  time,  for  it's  growing  late.  What  liquor  have  you 
brought,  beside  champagne  ?" 

"  A  gallon  demijohn  o'  t'  paine-apple  room,  'at  Measter 
Forester  aye  laikes  sae  weel,  and  anither  o'  t'  auld  pale 
Cognac ;  and  anither  yet  o'  t'  Ferintosh  to  fill  t'  dram 
bottles." 

"  Let  us  have  the  pine-apple  rum,  and  some  water 
screeching  hot.  Now,  mizzle.  Come,  Frayk,  pull  that 
big  round  table  into  the  middle  of  the  room ;  I'll  open 
the  boxes." 

And  suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  he  unlocked  the 
large  chest,  which  displayed  at  the  top  a  shallow  tray 
containing  a  supply  of  cutlery  and  napkins ;  a  coffee-pot 
and  spirit-lamp,  and  a  small  breakfast  service,  with  a 
silver  stew-pan  and  gridiron.  This  tray  removed,  seve- 
ral tiers  were  discovered  of  bricrht  tin  boxes  of  various 
sizes,    piled    one   above   the   other,  such   as   are   used 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  51 

by  restaurateurs  for  sending  out  hot  dinners  to  their 
customers. 

Just  as  this  was  done,  the  door  opened  and  a  buxom 
Dutch  serving-girl  entered  with  a  large  table-cloth  of 
very  coarse  but  very  clean  home-made  linen,  followed 
by  another  carrying  several  plates'and  dishes  empty,  in 
addition  to  a  magnificent  brown  loaf,  and  butter,  like 
that  set  before  Sisera,  in  a  lordly  dish. 

"That's  my  good  lasses,"  exclaimed  Harry.  "Now 
if  you'll  get  us  the  big  punch-bowl  and  ladle,  and  bring 
us  a  kettle  of  hot  water,  we'll  see  to  all  the  rest.  Now, 
Frank,  the  big  dish.  It  will  just  hold  the  ham.  Look 
you  here,  is  it  not  a  fine  one  ?  Pure  Yorkshire,  and  how 
beautifully  brazed  I  There,  set  it  at  the  head  of  the 
table  ;  and  give  me  that  other  dish  for  the  larded  grouse; 
we  shall  sup  as  well  as  if  we  were  at  home,  at  my 
shooting-box.  Now,  then,  I'll  open  the  leather  case, 
and  get  out  the  glass  and  siller  ;  do  you  fetch  the  napkins 
and  cutlery,  and  see  that  you  fold  the  napkins  in  right 
form,  or  Timothy  will  laugh  at  you.  It's  no  lark  to  me 
to  eat  a  good  supper  with  two-pronged  steel  forks,  or  to 
drink  champagne  out  of  their  vile  glass  an  inch  thick." 

'« I'd  be  all-fired  sorry,"  interposed  Tom,  "  to  be  a 
bottle  of  champagne  afore  you,  if  so  be  that  you  were 
a  bit  dry,  in  a  quart  pewter  mug,  or  an  earthen " 

"  How  should  you  like  to  be  a  pea,  Tom,"  Frank 
interrupted  him,  "  and  he  with  a  two-pronged  pitch- 
fork ?" 


52  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

"  It  'ud  take  a  most  onmighty  pitchfork  to  hoist  me, 
if  I  war  a  pea." 

"  You'd  make  a  tolerable  marrow-fat,  I  think,  Tom. 
I'd  bet  on  your  taking  a  premium  at  the  agricultural." 

"  It  would  require  an  infernal  gizzard  to  digest  him," 
said  Archer,  laughing. 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  Frank  ;  ''  I  don't  think  he'd  agree 
very  well  with  the  man  who  ate  him  ;  as  poor  Sidney 
Smith  wished  the  new  Bishop  of  Zealand  that  he  might 
o,  when  he  was  on  the  eve  of  sailing  for  his  diocese." 

' '  Better  a  darned  sight  be  in  a  diocess,  whativer  it  may 
be,  nor  on  the  pint  of  a  pitchfork,"  said  Tom  grinning. 
"  But  come,  boys,  come — I  could  eat — I  could  eat — " 

"  Could  you  eat  a  young  child  with  the  small-pox, 
Tom,  as  Alick  Bell  says,  when  he's  peckish?"  asked 
Frank. 

"  You  darned  etarnal  little  beast,"  replied  Tom, 
aimins:  a  back-handed  lick  at  him,  which  would  hav9 
felled  an  ox,  much  more  little  Frank,  if  he  had  not 
dodged  it.  "  You'd  spile  a  horse's  stomach,  w4th  your 
all-fired  filthy  talking." 

"Hear!  hear!"  exch-imed  Harry.  "  If  that  does 
not  beat  Satan  preaching  against  sin,  I  will  say  no  moie, 
now  or  for  ever.  But  I  do  wish  Tim  would  come,  and 
that  Dutch  hunting  fellow." 

"  Shall  you  wait  supper  for  the  hunting  Dutchman?" 

"  Wait  h — !"  cried  Tom,  savagely.  "I'd  see  every 
Dutchman  out  \)f  all  Jarsey,  and  Pennsylvany  arter  that, 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  53 

in  the  tother  place,  afore  I'd  wait  a  minute.  Wait 
supper !  The  boy's  mad  !  This  comes  o'what  he  calls 
breedin'  I  Darn  all  sich  breedin',  I  say.  It'll  breed  no- 
thin'  I  knows  on,  if  it  beant  maggots  in  a  body's  brain." 

By  this  time,  Frank  had  disposed  four  plates  in  orderly 
array,  with  upon  each  a  neatly-folded  napkin,  and  a 
thick  hunch  of  brown  bread  in  its  snowy  bosom ;  had 
placed  the  ham  and  cold  grouse,  with  their  carving- 
knives  and  forks  in  bright  symmetry  beside  them,  and 
was  looking  on  with  an  air  of  extreme  satisfaction,  while 
Harry  drew  out  of  the  leathern  casket  a  set  of  neat 
castors,  replenished  with  every  sauce  and  condiment 
that  Bininger  can  furnish,  each  bottle  secured,  like  a 
smelling-flask,  by  a  screw  top  of  silver.  These  placed 
on  the  centre  of  the  board,  he  produced  next  two  silver 
salt-cellars,  a  dozen  table-spoons,  and  as  many  forks  of 
the  same  metal,  and  last  not  least,  four  tall  pint  beakers 
of  clear  crystal,  and  four  yet  more  capacious  tumblers 
of  New-Castle  cut  glass. 

A  moment  or  two  afterward,  the  bowl  made  its  ap- 
pearance ;  the  kettle  was  hung  upon  the  crane  above 
the  glowing  pile  of  hickory ;  and  the  lemons  and  loaf- 
sugar  were  disposed  near  the  China  bowl,  whose  vast 
gulf  was  destined  soon  to  entomb  them. 

Then  the  door  was  again  thrown  open,  and  Tim 
Matlock  made  his  entree,  bearing  a  tray  with  fouj-  wax 
candles  lighted,  the  hot  potatoes,  and  the  omelet  aux 
fines  kerbes,  sending  forth  volumes  of  odoriferous  steam, 


54  THE    DCEnSTALKKRS. 

which   alone  could    have  won  an  anchorite  from  his 
fasting. 

It  was  a  curious  scene — such  a  scene  as  never  before 
had  that  small  room,  with  its  narrow  casements,  and 
dark  wainscoting,  and  home-made  rag  carpet,witnessed. 
Cookery  which  Ude  would  not  have  despised  ;  gam^ 
such  as  Hawker  would  have  given  five  years  of  life  to 
shoot ;  wine,  that  would  have  been  called  excellent  at 
Crockford's ;  silver,  of  Storr  and  Mortimer's  best  fash- 
ion ;  glass,  such  as  might  glitter  worthily  on  the  queen's 
table ;  and  wax  candles,  shedding  over  the  whole  their 
pure  strong  lustre. 

And  then  for  the  guests — the  two  elegant,  well- 
formed,  high-bred  gentlemen,  who  would  have  been 
esteemed  an  acquisition  to  the  most  courtly  company ; 
and  the  grotesque,  original,  rotund,  rough-visaged, 
tender-hearted  yeoman ;  who  had  the  racy  wit  of  Jack 
Falstaff  without  his  abject  cowardice,  his  sensuality 
without  his  selfishness,  his  honest  bearing  without  his 
hollow  heart — that  king  of  native  sportsmen! — that 
trump  of  trumps ! — honest,  brave,  witty,  kind,  eccen- 
trical Tom  Draw  of  Warwick. 

And  now,  just  as  the  supper  was  all  ready,  and  the 
appetites  of  all  still  readier,  the  door  communicating 
with  the  bar-room,  or  ball-room  rather,  was  thrown 
open,  and  thereat  entered  one  whom  I  must  stop  a  mo- 
ment to  describe — Dolph  Pierson,  the  Dutch  Hunter. 
It  might  be  almost  sufficient  to  say,  that  this  man  was 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  55 

in  all  external  parts,  and  in  many  mental  qualities,  the 
very  converse  of  Tom  Draw — but  he  is  a  real  picture, 
and  as  such,  I  will  paint  him. 

He  was  three  inches  above  six  feet  in  height,  and  of 
bone  and  frame  which  were  almost  gigantic,  w^hereas 
honest  Tom  was  nearly  a  foot  shorter  than  his  rival 
sportsman,  and  so  light  of  bone,  that  it  was  difficult  to 
understand  on  what  principle  the  vast  mass  of  flesh 
which  he  bore  about  with  him  was  supported ;  much 
more  how  it  was  moved,  at  times,  with  so  much  agility 
and  sprightliness.  Then  again  it  appeared,  at  first  sight, 
that  there  was  no  flesh  at  all  between  the  angular  mas- 
sive bones,  and  the  parchment-like  skin,  of  the  new- 
comer— while  honest  Tom's  hide  was  distended  almost 
unto  bursting,  by  the  preternatural  bulk  of  "  too,  too 
solid ya^,"  which  cushioned  his  whole  form,  and  made 
every  line  about  him,  if  not  precisely  a  line  of  beauty 
at  least  a  line  of  sinuous  rotundity. 

Dolph  Pierson's  face  and  features  were  as  sharp  and 

as  angular  as  the  edge  of  an  Indian  tomahawk ;  his 

brow  was  low,  but  neither  narrow  nor  receding  ;  on  the 

contrary,  it  displayed  considerable  amplitude  in  those 

parts  which  phrenologists  are  pleased  to  designate   as 

the  seats  of  ideality  ;  and  some  prominence  in  the  point 

which  the  same  learned  gentry  assert  to   contain  the 

organs  w^hereby  man  appreciates  the  relations  between 

cause  and  effect.     Across  tliis  forehead  the  skin  was 

drawn  as  tight  as  the  parchment  of  a  drum,  indented 
111 


'56  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

only  by  one  deep  furrow,  running  from  temple  to  tem- 
ple. His  hair  was  thin  and  straggling,  and  what  there 
was  of  it  was  as  white  as  the  drifted  snow,  as  were  also 
two  tufts  of  ragged  bristles,  which  stood  out  low  down  oi 
the  jaw-bone,  a  little  way  below  his  mouth,  alone  re 
lieving  the  monotonous  colour  of  his  otherwise  whisker 
less  and  beardless  physiognomy. 

As  if  to  set  off  the  whiteness  of  his  hair,  however 
and  of  those  twin  tufts,  his  eyebrows,  which  were  of 
extraordinary  thickness,  were  as  black    as    a    crow's 
wing,  running  in  a  straight  line,  without  any  arch  above 
the  eyes. 

The  eyes,  themselves,  which  were  very  deeply  set, 
and,  in  fact,  almost  entombed  between  the  sharp  pro- 
jection of  the  brow,  and  the  almost  fleshless  process  of 
the  cheek-bones,  were  dark,  twinkling,  restless,  never 
fixed  for  a  moment,  but  ever  rowig,  as  if  in  quest  of 
something  which  he  was  anxiously  seeking.  His  nose 
was  of  the  highest  and  keenest  aquiline,  starting  out 
suddenly  at  one  acute  angle  from  between  his  eyes,  and 
then  turning  as  abruptly  downward,  in  a  line  parallel 
to  the  face,  the  point  at  the  curvature,  or  summit,  ap- 
pearing as  if  it  would  pierce  through  the  skin. 

The  nostrils  were  rather  widely  expanded,  and  their 
owner  had  a  habit  of  distending  them,  as  if  he  were 
snuffing  the  air  ;  so  that  many  of  his  neighbours  believed 
that  he  actually  was  gifted  with  the  hound's  instinct  of 
following  game  by  the  scent. 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  57 

His  mouth,  to  conclude,  was  wide,  straight,  thin- 
lipped,  and  so  closely  glued  down  upon  his  few  remain- 
ing stumps  of  teeth,  that  it  seemed  as  if  it  had  never 
been  intended  to  open  ;  and  indeed  it  was  the  abode  of 
an  organ,  which,  if  not  endowed  with  great  eloquence, 
had  at  least  a  vast  talent  for  taciturnity. 

Such  were  the  features  of  the  man  who  entered  the 
room,  walking  in-toed,  like  an  Indian,  with  long  noise- 
less strides,  with  a  singular  stoop,  not  of  his  shoulders, 
but  of  his  neck  itself,  and  with  his  eyes  so  riveted  to 
the  ground,  that'  it  appeared  very  difficult  for  him  to 
raise  them  to  the  faces  of  those  he  came  to  visit. 

He  was  dressed  in  a  thick  blanket  coat,  of  a  dingy 
green  colour,  with  a  sort  of  brown  binding  down  the 
seams,  and  a  sash  of  brown  worsted  about  his  waist. 
On  his  head  he  wore  a  sort  of  skullcap  of  gray  fox-skin, 
with  the  brush  sewed  across  it,  hke  the  crest  of  a  dra- 
goon helmet,  about  four  inches  of  the  white  tag  waving 
loose  like  a  crest  from  the  top  of  the  crown.  Two  cross 
belts  of  buckskin  were  thrown  across  his  shoulders,  that 
on  the  right  supporting  an  oxhorn, quaintly,  carved,  and 
scraped  so  thin  that  the  dark  colour  of  the  powder  could 
be  seen  through  it  in  many  places ;  and  that  on  the  left 
garnished  with  a  long  wooden-handled  butcher-knife  in 
a  greasy  scabbard.  A  tomahawk  was  thrust  into  his 
sash,  its  sharp  head  guarded  by  a  sort  of  leathern 
pocket,  and  from  the  front  of  the  girdle  was  suspended 
a  pouch   of  otter-skin,  containing  balls,  bullet-mould. 


l8  THE    DEERSTALKFRS. 

charger,  greased  wadding,  and  all  the  apparatus  neces- 
sary for  cleaning  the  heavy  rifle  which  he  carried  in  his 
hand,  and  which,  at  least  in  his  waking  hours,  he  was 
seldom,  if  ever,  known  to  lay  aside. 

To  complete  his  costume,  his  feet  were  shod  in  In- 
dian moccasins,  and  his  legs  encased  in  stout  buckskin 
leggins,  supported  by  garters  rich  in  embroideries  of 
porcupine-quills,  and  laced  over  his  rough  homespun 
pantaloons. 

Archer  was  standing;  at  the  head  of  the  table  whet- 
ting  his  carving-knife  on  an  ivory-handled  steel,  prepa- 
ratory to  an  attack  on  the  ham,  w^hen  the  old  hunter 
entered  ;  but  as  he  saw  the  gaunt  raw-boned  figure,  he 
laid  it  down  instantly,  and  stepped  forw^ard  with  ex- 
tended hand  to  greet  him. 

"  Ah  !  Dolph,  how  are  you  ?  I  am  glad  to  see  you, 
man ;  I  was  afraid  you  would  not  have  come  in  time  for 
supper." 

The  hunter  raised  his  eyes  for  a  moment  to  the  ex- 
pressive face  of  the  speaker,  but  before  it  had  dwelt 
there  a  moment  perusing  the  w^ell-known  features,  it 
had  wandered  away  to  decipher  the  visages  of  the  other 
tenants  of  the  seats  at  the  table.  A  pleasant  smile, 
however,  dimpled  his  cheek  and  twinkled  for  an  instant 
in  the  dark  eye,  as  he  pressed  Harry's  hand  cordially, 
and  made  reply. 

"  Middlin'  well,  Mister  Aircher.    I  supped  six  hours 
ago — how  is't  with  yourself?" 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  59 

<<  What  if  you  did,  boy  ?"  interrupted  Fat  Tom,  be- 
fore Archer  couhi  reply.  "  You  must  have  got  ongodly 
hungry  in  six  hours,  I  guess.  Sit  by — sit  by — darn  all 
sich  nonsense." 

''  I  niver  eats  only  twice  of  a  day,"  replied  the  hunter, 
without  a  smile,  and  without  moving  a  muscle  of  his 
face.  "  And  I  niver  eats  hog,  nohow,  nor  birds  nei- 
ther," he  added,  quietly,  after  a  moment's  pause,  during 
which  he  had  looked  over  the  fire,  the  gun-cases,  and  all 
the  baggage  in  the  room,  not  excluding  Timothy,  whom 
he  seemed  to  regard  as  the  greatest  curiosity  of  the 
whole.  No  one,  however,  had  seen  him  look  toward 
the  table,  the  burthen  of  which  he  named  so  accurately. 

<' Do  you  drink  iver,  Dolph?"  asked  Tom,  half  jeer- 
ingly,  in  the  intervals  of  masticating  the  w^ing  of  the 
cold  ruffed  grouse,  with  a  modicum  of  the  thin- shaved 
ham. 

"  When  liquor's  good,  and  Pm  adry !" 

"Niver,  when  you're  not  adry,  Dolph  ?" 

"Niver!" 

"  Then  you're  the  darnedest  stupid  Dutchman  I  iver 
corned  acrost,"  replied  the  fat  man.  "  Leastways  onless 
you're  always  dry,  like  I  be.  Another  glass  of  that 'ere 
champasrne,  Timothy." 

"  Come,  sit  down,  sit  down,  Dolph,"  said  Harry, 
"  and  if  you  really  will  not  eat  anything,  at  least  take  a 
drink  with  us." 

"  Well,  I  don't  care  if  I  do !"  responded  the  man  of 


60  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

few  words,  depositing  his  rifle  in  the  corner  of  the  room, 
and  taking  his  seat,  quietly,  between  Archer  and  Tom, 
who  was  already  steeping  his  soul  in  the  third  beaker 
of  dry  champagne. 

«  What  will  you  have,  Dolph  ?  Champagne,  or — " 

"  Some  of  the  rum,  Mr.  Aircher,"  answered  the  man, 
with  perfect  readiness,  while  Timothy  stared  at  him 
with  inexpressible  astonishment,  more  than  suspecting 
him  to  be  what  he  would  have  called  in  his  native  dia- 
lect, a  *«waise  mon,"  meaning  thereby,  neither  more 
nor  less  than  a  wizzard. 

At  a  glance  from  his  master,  however,  the  Yorkshire- 
man  so  far  recovered  himself,  as  to  hand  a  square  case- 
bottle  to  the  hunter,  who  forthwith  decanted  about  half 
a  pint  into  the  largest  tumbler,  and,  disdainfully  waving 
away  the  water,  which  Tim  offered  to  him,  made  a  cir- 
cular nod  to  the  company,  muttered  '<  Here's  luck  I" 
and  swallowed  it  at  a  gulp. 

Then  he  shook  his  head  approvingly,  winked  his  eye 
hard,  and  snuffed  the  air  repeatedly,  and  after  that 
mute  but  expressive  pantomime,  held  forth  the  empty 
tumbler  to  Timothy,  with  a  gesture  towards  the  pitcher, 
indicating  that  he  desired  it  filled  with  water. 

When  he  had  received,  however,  the  pure  element, 
he  paused,  as  if  unwilling  to  remove  the  delicious  aroma 
from  his  palate. 

"  I  knowed  it,"  said  he,  thoughtfully,  as  he  agai^ 


THE    DELRSTALKERS.  61 

shook  his  head ;  "jest  as  I 'spected,  adzactly.  Them's 
prime  sperrits." 

At  this  unusually  long  speech,  Harry  smiled,  knowing 
his  man,  and  made  answer — 

"Since  you  like  it,  had  you  not  better  repeat  the 
dose?" 

"  Not  this  night,  if  I  knows   it." 

By  this  time,  Frank,  who  had  never  before  met  this 
original,  and  who  had  been  studying  his  characteristic 
answers,  inquired,  with  a  view  to  drawing  him  out — 

"  Pray,  Mr.  Pierson,  if  you  never  eat  hog  or  birds, 
may  I  be  allowed  to  ask  what  you  do  eat — if  it's  not 
impertinent?" 

"It's  not  imperent  at  all,"  said  Dolph.  "I  eats 
a'most  any  wild  crittur  what  runs ;  deer,  or  bar  meat, 
or  possum,  may  be." 

"Did  you  ever  eat  a  skunk,  Dolph  ?"  asked  Harry. 

"  A  skunk  killed  dead  at  the  fust  lick,  and  well  clean- 
ed, 's  not  bad  eatin',"  interposed  Tom.  "Say,  Dolph, 
did  you  iver  eat  wolf?" 

"NJver — nor  no  dog  nuther.  Mister  Draw!"  replied 
the  hunter,  somewhat  testily,  as  if  he  fancied  they  were 
quizzing  him — "  No,  nor  no  calf,  nuther.  I  don't  think 
much,"  he  added,  looking  at  Tom,  as  if  to  pay  him  off, 
"of  a  man,  what  eats  calf,  nohow." 

"Nor  I,  Mr.  Pierson,  nor  I,"  put  in  Frank  with 
great  alacrity,  delighted  to  find  an  auxiliary  in  one  of 
his  crotchets,  which  was  an  absolute  contempt  for  veal 


62  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

in  all  its  combinations.  "I  never  eat  it  myself ;  in  fact, 
I  had  about  as  soon  eat  dosf." 

"  I  niver  knowed  a  raal  sportin'  man  as  wouldn't!" 
answered  the  hunter,  evidently  gratified  by  Frank's  ad- 
herence to  his  opinion ;  whereupon  that  worthy  resumed, 
filling  his  glass  with  champagne — 

"  Well,  if  you  will  not  join  us,  allow  me  to  drink  your 
health.     I  have  heard  of  you  from  Mr.  Archer,  often." 

'<  Yes,  Mr.  Aircher  knows  me,"  said  the  hunter, 
quietly,  and  apparently  unaware  of  the  intended  com- 
pliment. 

t'Do  tell,  Dolph — "  Tom  put  in,  at  this  moment, 
what  my  poor  friend,  J.  Cypress,  Jr.,  was  wont  to  call 
his  lingual  oar,  with  the  evident  intent  of  kicking  up  a 
row,  "  Do  tell  us,  Dolph — you  said  you  niver  eat  no 
wolf — did  no  wolf  niver  eat  you  ?" 

"  Niver ! — whar's  your  eyes  ?  Don't  you  see  me  ?" 

<«  Guess  you'd  a  made  'em  sick.  They  couldn't  eat 
you,  nohow." 

"  They  comeJ  darned  nigh  to  it  oncet,  inyhow." 

t'Did  they?  By  George!  you  never  told  me  that," 
said  Harry. 

"  I'm  no  great  things  at  talking.  If  you  want  to  hear 
bragging,  you  must  set  Draw  agoin'.  Well!  well! 
there  was  wolves  them  times." 

"  There  are  wolves  7iow,''^  replied  Forester. 

The  hunter  looked  at  him  doubtfully,  yet  with  a 
*vistful  eye. 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  63 

«  Not  hereaways,"  he  said,  at  length.  "  Leastwise  I 
hain't  heerd  none,  nor  seen  no  track  of  none,  this  six 
year.  Yet  I  some  thought  to-day  they  mout  a  gotten 
back,  like." 

"  They  have  got  back,"  said  Frank  earnestly.  <■<■  We 
heard  one  howl,  to-night,  scarcely  a  mile  hence." 

Doubtful,  perhaps,  as  to  the  certainty  of  Frank's  in- 
formation, and  science  in  wood- craft,  Dolph  cast  a  quick 
glance  of  inquiry  at  Harry  ;  and  on  receiving  his  affirma- 
tive nod  in  reply,  brought  down  his  hand  with  a  heavy 
slap  on  his  sinewy  thigh,  and  cried  aloud,  in  tones  far 
more  animated  than  he  was  wont  to  use — 

"  Darnation,  if  I  isn't  glad  on't !" 

t<  Why?"  exclaimed  Forester,  hoping  to  detect  old 
Draw  in  some  blunder,  as  to  his  previous  reasoning. 

"  Caze  I  hates,  wust  kind,  to  be  mistaken — and  I  half 
thought  last  night  they'd  got  back  agin." 

"  And  pray,  what  made  you  think  so  ?" 

"  Why,  I  camped  out  nigh  the  Green  Pond  last 
night,  seein'  I'd  sot  some  lines  for  pickerel ;  and  bein' 
it  was  sorter  cold,  I  kinneled  up  a  fire,  and  sure  enough, 
an  old  doe,  with  two  well-grown  fa'ans  at  her  side, 
comed  right  up  into  the  circle  of  the  blaze,  and 
scrouched  down  in  the  fern,  not  ten  yards  from  my 
camp-fire.  I  knowed  they  must  a'  been  skeart  orfully 
to  come  down  on  a  man  o'  purpose." 

"How  do  you  know  that  they  came  on  purpose?" 
asked  Frank,  more  intent  on  fathoming  this  man's,  to 


64  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

him,  incomprehensible  sagacity,  than  even  on  gaining 
information. 

"  How  did  I  know? — Didn't  they  come  up  wind  on 
me  ?  They  knowed  I  was  there  a  mile  off — and  they 
did  right,  by  thunder !  I'd  not  a  hurted  a  hair  on  'em  for 
a  hundred  dollars." 

"  I'm  sure  you  would  not,  Dolph,"  replied  Harry, 
"  But  come — Timothy  has  cleared  away  the  eatables, 
and  I  am  going  to  brew  a  bowl  of  hot  rum  punch.  You 
must  break  your  rule  for  once,  Dolph,  and  take  another 
glass  to  oblige  me  ;  and  blow  a  cloud,  and  spin  us  a  yarn 
about  the  wolves  coming  nigh  to  eating  you." 

"  I'd  do  a'most  anything  to  obleege  you,  Mister  Ar- 
cher, and  you  knows  it.  But  I'd  ruther  not  drink,  no- 
how— and  that's  along  o'  the  wolves  comin'  so  nigh  as 
they  did  to  eatin'  me,  too,  I  tell  you." 

"  Well — I'll  press  no  man  to  drink  against  his  better 
judgment,"  said  Harry,  as  he  brewed  the  fragrant 
compound. 

"  I  knowed  you  wouldn't,  when  I  telled  you  I'd  ruther 
not." 

"  Well,  as  I  do  not,  you  will  blow  a  cloud  with  us, 
and  spin  us  the  yarn,"  said  Archer.     "  Forester  and  I 

are  dying  to  hear  it." 

'*  Sartin  I  will,"  replied  Pierson ;  "  and  I'll  blow  a 
cloud  too  ;  but  the  yarn's  like  to  be  a  short  'un." 

''  Pass  up  your  glasses,  boys ;  let  me  help  you.  This 
is  prime,  and  after  a  cold  night-ride  and  a  cold  supper, 


THE    DEERSTALKERS  65 

it  will  do  none  of  us  a  thought  of  harm.     Hand  the 
cheroots  round,  Timothy.     Those  are  good,  Pierson." 

"  I  smokes  in  an  Injun  pipe  alius,  with  Kinnekin- 
ninck.  I  larnt  that,  when  I  hunted  years  and  years 
agone  with  the  Mohawks  in  these  hunting-grounds. 
Ah  !  they  was  hunting-grounds  in  them  days  !" 

"  Now  then  for  your  story,"  said  Harry,  when  the 
pipes  were  alllighted,  and  the  punch  tasted  and  approved. 
"  Begin  as  quick  as  you  can,  and  after  that  w^e  will  to 
bed  instantly — for  we  must  be  afoot  early." 

"  Sartin  we  must,  if  we  means  venison.  Well,  well! 
It's  nigh  forty  years  agone,  it  is,  and  I  could  shoot  some 
then,  and  was  right  and  smart  and  strong,  I  tell  you-^ 
but  I  did  spree  it  oncet  in  a  while  like — not  to  say  that 
I  was  a  drunkard— for  sometimes  I'd  go  weeks  and 
months  on  cold  water ;  but  then,  agin,  I'd  git  right  hot, 
I  tell  you,  for  a  week,  maybe,  and  spend  half  my  airnin's 
like,  and  be  good  for  nothing  for  a  month  arterward. 
Well,  well !  there  was  few  houses  in  them  days,  nor  no 
clearin's  nigher  than  the  Coshocton  turnpike.  There 
was  no  village  here,  nor  no  store  nigher  than  Jess 
Wood's,  clear  away  beyant  Hans  Schneider's  toll-gate. 
I  lived  here  all  alone,  where  I  lives  now.  I'd  a  putty 
nice  log  house,  and  a  log  stable  for  old  Roan,  and  a  lean- 
to  for  my  dogs,  jest  on  the  pond's  edge.  Well — it  was 
winter  time,  and  winters  in  them  days  was  six  times  as 
cold  as  they  is  now.  There  was  nigh  six  foot  of  snow 
on  the  level,  and  in  the  hollows  it  was  drifted  twice  ab 


66  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

deep,  all  on  it,  I  reckon.  Well— deer  was  a  hundred 
where  you'll  find  ten  these  times,  and  bar  a  thousand  on 
'era.  I'd  had  good  luck  all  winter,  and  it  was  nigh  the 
holydays,  and  I'd  got  out  o'  lead  ean  a'most,  and  putty 
short  of  powder.  It  fruz  ivery  night  sharper  nor  nothin,' 
and  there  was  sich  a  crust  as  mout  ha'  borne  an  elephant 
— but  there  warn't  elephant  them  days — seems  to  me 
they  grows  plentier  as  bar  grows  scacer,  and  beaver 
ain't  none  left.  Well — I  rigged  up  a  jumper,  and  loaded 
it  with  peltry,  and  hitched  up  old  Ronn,  and  offed  to  Jess 
Wood's — twenty  mile,  I  guess — thn  ugh  a  blazed  wood 
road,  meanin'  to  git  me  a  keg  or  t  a^o  of  powder  and 
some  bars  of  lead,  sell  off  my  plunder,  and  be  back 
same  night.  Off  I  went  sartin — but  when  I  comed  to 
Jess's,  there  was  a  turkey-shoot  you  see,  and  a  hull 
grist  o'  boys,  and  we  shot  days,  and  drinked  and  played 
nights — and  to  be  done  with't,  'twas  (.he  third  day,  putty 
well  on  for  night,  when  I  started,  and  I  patty  hot  at  that. 
Well — it  was  moonlight  nights,  and  I  got  along  .smart 
and  easy,  till  I  got  on  the  hill,  jest  abore  the  beaver  dam. 
The  beaver  dam  warn't  broke  then,  and  the  pond  was 
full,  but  it  was  fruz  right  sharp  and  lurd,  and  I  wen* 
over  it,  at  a  smart  trot,  and  was  thinkiii'  I'd  be  hum  in 
an  hour,  when  jest  as  I  was  half  ways  over  I  heerd  a 
wolf  howl,  and  then  another,  and  then  another,  and  in 
less  time  than  I  can  tell  you,  there  was  thutty  or  fawty 
of  them  devils  a  jabberin'  as  fast  as  iver  yviu  heerd 
Frenchmen,  on  my  trail ;  and  afore  I  was  well  acrost,  I 


THE    Dr^ERSTALKERS.  67 

could  see  them  comln',  yelpin'  and  screechin'  all  in  a 
black  snarl  like,  all  on  'em  together,  over  the  clear  ice. 
Well— I  whipped  up  old  Roan,  and  little  whip  he  needed, 
for  when  he  heerd  them  yell,  he  laid  down  his  ears,  and 
laid  down  his  belly  to  the  snow,  and  by  thunder !  didn't 
he  strick  it  though  I  Over  rough,  over  smooth,  up  hill  and 
down  hollow — and  oncet  I  thought  we  should  a  run  clear 
out  of  hearin'  on  'em.  But  goin'  up  the  big  mountain, 
w^hen  we  was  nigh  the  crown,  I  carn't  tell  how  it  was 
adzactly,  but  pitch  down  we  went  into  a  darned  rocky 
hole,  and  the  fust  thing  I  knowed  I  was  half  head  over  in 
the  snow,  and  the  jumper  broke  to  etarnal  smash,  and  old 
Roan  gone  ahead  like  the  wind — and  I  left  alone  to  fight 
faw^ty  howlin'  devils,  and  putty  hot  at  that.  Well,  I  tuk 
heart,  and  fixed  my  rifle,  and  as  they  come  a  yelpin' up  the 
hill,  I  drawed  stret,  and  shot  one  down,  and  run  like  thun- 
der, aloadin'  as  I  went,  for  I  knowed  as  the  bloody  devils 
would  stop  to  tar'  the  one  I'd  wounded  into  slivers,  and 
while  they  was  a  tar'ing  him  for  sartin,  their  screeches 
mout  a'  made  a  body's  hair  stand  up  on  his  head  like — but 
they  soon  quit  that  fun,  and  took  my  trail  agin  in  airnest. 
Well,  I  got  loaded,  and  I  w^ent  to  prime,  and  darned  if 
my  flint  hadn't  got  smashed  to  pieces.  I  felt  in  my 
pouch,  in  my  pockets — not  a  flint  I  I  w^as  hot,  as  I  tellecl 
you,  when  I  quit  Jess's,  and  left  them  on  the  bar.  Oh, 
warn't  I  in  a  fix  !  and  there  warn't  no  big  trees  nuther ; 
and  if  there  had  a  been,  it  was  so  bitter  cold  I  thought 
a  man  must  a'  died  afore  it  was  mornin'.     But  I  thought 


68  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

it  warn't  no  use  to  say  die,  no  how — so  I  run  for  the 
biggest  tree  and  clum  it.  It  warn't  thicker  nor  my  body 
much,  a  stunt  hemlock,  not  over  fifteen  feet,  or  eighteen 
at  most  to  the  fust  limb,  and  none  higher  that  would 
bear  my  weight,  and  a  tight  match  if  that  would.  Well, 
I  clum  it — and  there,  from  eleven  o'clock  of  a  winter's 
night,  I  sot  perishin'  with  cold  and  a'most  dead  with 
fear — I  arn't  easily  skeart  nuther — with  them  fawty 
devils  howlin'  under  me,  and  lickin'  their  bloody  chaps, 
and  glarin'  with  their  fiery  eyes,  and  ivery  now  and  then 
a  big  'un  jumpin'  within  three  feet  of  the  limb  I  sot  on, 
and  the  limb  crackin'  and  the  tree  bendin',  'at  I  thought 
it  'ud  go  ivery  minnit.  Day  broke  at  last,  and  then  I 
hoped  they'd  a  quit — but  not  they.  The  sun  riz — still 
thar  they  was  a  circlin'  round  the  tree,  madder  nor  iver, 
foamin'  and  frothin'  at  their  jaws,  and  oncet  and  agin 
fightin'  and  tearin'  at  one  another.  Gentlemen,  I  w^as  a 
young  stout  man,  when  I  clum  that  hemlock,  and  my 
hair  war  as  black  as  a  crow's  back.  When  I  fell  down, 
for  come,  down  I  didn't,  I  was  as  thin  and  as  bent,  ay  I 
and  as  white-headed  as  you  see  me.  Since  then,  I 
niver  drinked  only  when  I  war  dry,  and  then  niver  over 
oncet  in  the  mornin'  and  oncet  agin  at  night." 

"  But  how,  in  Heaven's  name !  did  you  escape  them  ?" 
asked  Forester,  who  was  interested  beyond  measure  in 
the  wild  narrative. 

"By  Heaven's  help!"  answered  the  hunter,  so- 
lemnly. "  Some  chaps  chanced  on  old  Roan's  carcass  in 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  69 

the  woods,  arter  they  devils  killed  him,  and  knowed 
whose  horse  he  war,  and  tuk  the  back  track,  and  come 
down  on  the  mad  brutes  from  to  leeward,  with  seven 
good  true  rifles.  They  killed  five  on  'em  at  the 
fust  shot,  let  alone  what  they  wounded ;  and  the  rest 
made  stret  tracks  ;  but  I  didn't  see  it.  For  at  the  crack 
of  the  fust  shot,  my  head  went  round  and  round,  and  I 
pitched  down  right  amongst  them.  But  they  was 
skeart  as  bad  as  I  was,  and  hadn't  no  time  to  look  arter 
me.  Well,  Mister  Aircher,  my  tale  is  telt,  and  my 
pipe  smoked,  so  I'll  go  lie  down  on  my  barskin  by  the 
kitchen  fire,  and  you'll  be  for  bed,  I  guess — for  we 
must  rouse  up  bright  and  airly.  I  telled  Jake  to  have 
breakfast  two  hours  afore  sunrise." 

"  We  loill  go  to  bed.  Thank  you  for  your  tale.  I 
will  never  ask  you  to  drink  again.     Good-night." 

''Good-night." 

And  catching  up  his  rifle,  he  left  the  room  without 
any  further  words. 

«  That  is  a  singular  and  superior  man,"  said  Forester, 
as  he  closed  the  door. 

"  Yes,  indeed  is  he  !"  replied  Archer. 

<<  Putty  smart  for  a  Dutchman,"  said  Tom. 

"He  speaks  better  English  than  you,  Tom,"  an- 
swered Forester. 

"  Better  H !  He's  as  Dutch  as  thunder !  Good- 
night, boys." 

And  so  they  broke  up  the  sederunt. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  STILL-HUNT. 

i\Iark  !    How  they  file  adown  the  rocky  pass, — 
Bright  creatures,  fleet,  and  beautiful,  and  free,^ 
With  winged  bounds  that  spurn  the  unshaken  grass, 
And  swan-like  necks  sublime, — their  eloquent  eyes 
Instinct  with  liberty, — their  antlered  crests, 
In  clear  relief  against  the  glowing  sky, 
Haught  and  majestic ! 

The  autumnal  morning  was  yet  dark  as  midnight, 
when  Dolph  Pierson,  arising  from  his  bearskin,  awoke 
Harry,  who  ere  long  had  the  whole  house  afoot  and 
stirring.  The  kitchen  clock  was  striking  four,  when 
the  party  assembled  in  the  little  parlour  in  which  they 
had  supped  but  a  few  hours  before  ;  yet  so  smartly  had 
Timothy  bestirred  himself,  that  not  only  had  all  the 
relics  of  the  supper  been  removed,  but  a  hearty  extem- 
poraneous breakfast  had  replaced  it  on  the  large  round 
table. 

There  was  the  Yorkshire  ham,  which  had  not  suffered 

so  deeply  by  the  last  night's  onslaught,  but  that  enough 

remained  to  furnish  forth  sundry  meals  even  for  hunters' 

appetites.     There  was  the  huge  brown  loaf;  the  dish 

70 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  71 

of  golden  butter ;  the  wooden  bowl,  full  to  the  brim 
with  new-laid  eggs,  wrapped  in  a  steaming  napkin  ; 
and  last,  not  least,  two  mighty  tankards  smoking  with 
a  judicious  mixture  of  Guinness's  double  stout,  brown 
sugar,  spice,  and  toast ;  for  to  no  womanish  delicacies 
of  tea  and  coffee  did  the  stout  huntsmen  seriously  in- 
cline. 

As  they  entered  the  room,  the  old  Ijunter,  who  was 
busily  employed  drying  a  pound  of  rifle-powder  on  a 
pewter  plate,  heated  on  the  wood  embers,  raised  his 
eyes  from  his  occupation,  and  kept  them  riveted  on  the 
figure  of  Harry  Archer,  for  a  far  longer  period  than  it 
was  his  wont  to  bestow  on  anything  of  mortal  mould. 

After  gazing  at  him  for  some  moments  thus,  he 
nodded  his  head  approvingly,  as  who  should  say  "  Not 
such  a  bad  turn-out,  after  all!"  and  then  resumed  his 
somewhat  perilous  occupation  of  stirring  the  powder  in 
the  plate  with  the  point  of  his  long  wood-knife,  as  he 
held  it  an  inch  or  two  only  above  a  glaring  bed  of 
hickory  embers  ;  but  neither  on  Frank  Forester,  nor  on 
old  Tom  Draw,  did  he  vouchsafe  to  bestow  one  second's 
observation. 

And  in  truth,  Harry  in  his  hunting-dress  was  an  ob- 
ject worthy  of  some  consideration,  so  perfect  was  every 
part  of  its  equipment,  both  in  its  fashion,  and  its  adapta- 
tion to  its  peculiar  use. 

On  his  head  he  wore  a  cap  exactly  like  that  of  an  En- 
glish whipper-in,  or  huntsman,  with  this  exception  only, 
112 


72  THE    DEERSTALKERS^ 

that  it  had  a  projecting  rim  behind,  to  shelter  the  back 
of  his  neck  from  rain,  or  the  dewdrops  which  might  fall 
from  the  branches,  and  that  in  lieu  of  being  black,  it 
was  of  a  deep  umber-brown,  to  correspond  with  the 
colour  of  the  autumnal  leaves. 

The  black  silk  handkerchief,  knotted  about  his 
sinewy  neck,  displayed  not  an  inch  of  white  linen  above 
it,  and  was  itself  partially  concealed  by  a  buckskin 
hunting-shirt,  exquisitely  wrought  by  the  hand  of  some 
Indian  maiden,  far  in  the  forests  of  the  west.  Prepared 
with  skill  peculiar  to  those  wild  tribes,  this  garment 
combined  the  suppleness,  the  warmth,  and  the  dura- 
bility of  leather,  with  the  high  finish  and  rich  colour  of 
the  best  broad-cloth.  That  colour  was  a  nameless  hue, 
between  brown  and  purple,  approaching  nearly  to  the 
tints  of  the  copper  beech,  or  rather  to  something  between 
that  and  the  cinnabar  brown  of  the  buckeye,  or  horse- 
chesnut.  It  was  fringed  handsomely,  and  embroidered 
in  places  with  black  porcupine-quills ;  and  was  girt 
about  his  waist  by  a  black  leather  girdle,  with  a 
buckle  of  blue  steel,  supporting  a  pouch  of  martin  skin, 
and  a  hunting-knife  with  a  buckhorn  hilt,  and  a  blade, 
a  foot  in  length,  of  the  best  Sheffield  steel.  He  wore 
no  tomahawk ;  but  his  powder-flask,  made  of  a  buffalo 
horn  mounted  with  dark  blue  steel,  was  slung  across  his 
left  shoulder  by  a  plaited  whip-thong  of  black  leather. 

His  nether  man  was  clad  in  a  pair  of  Pike  and  El- 
phick's  elaborate  buckskins,  which  had  bestridden  the  pig- 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  73 

skin  many  a  day  in  Leicestershire,  and  soared  in  flying 
leap  over  the  bankfull  Whissendine.  Not  now,  however, 
"were  they  resplendent  as  of  old  in  the  glory  of  white  pipe- 
clay, but  wore  a  more  harmonious  if  less  striking  hue  of 
dull  olive-green,  as  did  the  leggins  of  the  same  material, 
which  reached  to  his  knee  and  covered  the  fastenings  of 
his  firmly-wrought  Indian  moccasins. 

Two  things  only  remain  to  be  noticed  of  all  his 
accoutrements — that  in  the  buckskin  garter  which  se- 
cured the  buskin  of  his  right  leg  he  had  a  short  strong 
two-edged  dirk,  the  knee-knife  of  the  Highlander;  and 
that  he  bore  a  superb  double-barrelled  rifle  by  Moore, 
that  prince  of  makers,  warranted,  at  two  hundred  yards, 
when  held  by  a  steady  hand,  to  put  both  balls  through 
the  same  bull's  eye;  a  feat  many  a  time  and  oft  per- 
formed by  its  present  owner. 

In  spite  of  its  weight,  which  was  nearly  twenty 
pounds,  it  was  both  a  manageable  and  handy  weapon ; 
for  not  being  very  long,  and  the  metal  being  heaviest  at 
the  breech,  it  was  so  admirably  balanced  in  the  hand,  as 
to  fatigue  the  arm  far  less,  w^hether  at  a  trail  or  a  pre- 
sent, than  the  much  less  ponderous  but  longer  rifle  of 
the  Dutch  hunter. 

The  barrels  w^ere  browned  to  a  nicety,  and  all  the 
mountings  tempered  in  wood-ashes  to  so  deep  a  blue, 
that,  like  all  the  rest  of  Harry's  dress,  there  was  no 
fear  of  a  stray  sunbeam   glistening  from  any  brilHant 


f4  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

point,  and  so  betraying-  his  approach  to  the  fearful 
quarry. 

Tom  Dra\v  wore  as  usual  his  dark  home-spun  suit, 
with  heavy  boots,  and  a  dark  gray  felt  hat,  which  garb, 
if  it  possessed  no  beauty,  had  at  least  this  advantage, 
that  it  was  inconspicuous  and  quiet.  His  buckshot  car- 
tridges— for  he  eschewed  the  rifle — and  copper  flask 
were  buried  in  the  vast  pockets  of  his  voluminous  un- 
mentionables, and  from  a  slit  in  the  side  of  these,  like 
that  in  which  a  carpenter  carries  his  wooden  rule,  peered 
the  stout  haft  of  a  gigantic  butcher-knife. 

His  other  weapon  was  the  huge  ten-pound  double- 
barrelled  shot-gun  of  twelve-gauge,  with  which  he  was 
wont  to  exterminate  all  genera  of  game,  from  the  minute 
sandpiper  to  the  huge  brow^n  bear. 

Frank  had  as  usual  been  exceedingly  elaborate,  but 
as  usual  also  somewhat  unfortunate  in  his  attire,  for, 
inclining  somewhat  at  all  times  to  the  kiddy  in  the  style 
of  his  dress,  he  had  unluckily  leaned  to  it  at  the  very 
time  of  all  others  when  it  is  least  admissible,  and  had 
mounted  a  hunting-shirt  and  cap,  the  latter  adorned 
with  a  waving  bucktail,  of  the  brightest  pea-green 
plush,  with  fringes  of  the  same  colour.  His  buck- 
skin breeches  were  of  as  fair  a  white  as  he  would  have 
donned  to  meet  the  Quorn  at  Billesdon  Coplow ;  and 
his  legs  were  encased  in  stout  russet  gaiters,  and  his  feet 
shod  in  strong  ankle-shoes.  His  knife  was  silver  hilted ; 
his  rifle,  which  was  of  much  smaller  calibre  and  lighter 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  7j 

fashion  than  his  friend's,  and  his  powder-horn,  were 
silver-mounted  ;  and,  in  a  word,  his  whole  appearance 
was  much  fitter  for  a  foncy  ball,  than  for  a  still- hmit  in 
the  forest. 

Archer  knew  all  this,  it  is  true,  quite  as  well  as  the 
hunter,  and  felt  its  absurdity  quite  as  keenly ;  yet, 
though  with  Forester  he  had  been  for  years  on  terms  of 
more  than  brother's  intimacy,  he  had  given  him  no  hint 
on  the  subject,  and  as  they  sat  down  to  thr  sociable 
breakfast,  he  suffered  his  eye  to  run  over  Forester's  gay 
dress,  when  he  knew  that  Dolph  was  observing  him,  and 
then  catching  the  eye  of  the  latter,  addressed  to  him  an 
almost  imperceptible  motion  of  the  head,  w^hich  the  old 
hunter  understood  as  well  as  if  a  volume  had  been 
spoken,  though  he  could  not  conceive  the  reason  m  it. 

The  fact  was  simply  this,  that  Harry  was  so  well 
acquainted  with  his  friend's  character,  that  he  did  not 
doubt  for  the  moment,  that  if  Frank  should  be  advised 
to  don  a  graver  garb,  his  pride  of  woodcraft  would  take 
alarm,  and  he  wouLl  swear  that  deer  were  attracted  by 
gay  colours,  and  would  persist  in  wearing  them  as  ae 
rigueur;  whei'eas,  if  left  to  himself,  he  would  probably 
discover  his  error  in  one  day's  hunting,  and  learn  by  his 
own  experience  that  which  he  would  surely  refuse  if 
urged  by  another. 

All  this,  at  an  after  period,  Harry  explained  duly  to 
the  old  hunter,  who  merely  shook  his  head  in  reply,  and 
marvelled  to  his  heart's  content ;  but  at  the  moment, 


76  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

beyond  the  glance  and  slight  gesture,  no  sign  or  word 
was  exchanged  between  them. 

The  ham  and  eggs  were  speedily  despatched,  and  the 
tankards  drained  to  the  lees  by  all  except  old  Pierson, 
who  quietly  addressed  himself  to  a  bowl  of  milk,  pro- 
duced by  mine  host  at  Dolph's  especial  desire.  This 
done,  some  sandwiches  were  prepared,  the  dram-bottles 
filled,  the  rifles  and  shot-guns  loaded  and  capped,  the 
contents  of  powder-flasks  and  pouches  investigated,  and 
then  all  was  pronounced  to  be  ready  for  a  start,  and  that 
before  they  had  been  half  an  hour  out  of  their  beds,  and 
w^hile  the  stars  were  yet  shining  brightly  in  the  cerulean 
sky,  and  ere  one  flash  of  dawn  had  appeared  in  the 
easter»  horizon. 

"  Tim,"  said  his  master,  "  it  will  be  of  no  use  for  you 
to  go  with  us  to-day,  and  it  w^ill  make  too  many.  So 
look  well  to  the  nags,  will  you  ?  and  see  if  you  cannot 
get  us  something  eatable  for  dinner.  Did  you  not  say, 
Dolph,  that  you  had  some  venison  ?" 

"  I  telled  my  boy  to  bring  't  down  the  fust  thing. 
He'll  be  here  afore  it's  light.  Yes,  its  a  prime  saddle; 
two  inches  of  fat  all  over  't." 

"  Divide  it  into  haunches,  Timothy,  and  roast  it  your- 
self.    You  know  how — covered  with  puff-paste." 

"Ay!  I  ken  brawly.  But  w^hat  o'clock  must  I 
have  t'  haunch  ready  ?  It  winna  do  to  keep't  waiting 
loike." 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  77 

"  No,  indeed,  it  will  not.  What  time  shall  we  be 
back,  Dolph  ?" 

"  Not  afore  seven,  if  then  ;  there's  no  saying.'' 
"  At  eight,  then,  we  will  dine ;  make  some  soup,  if 
you  can  get  either  beef  or  mutton.  And  hark  you,  I 
daresay  you  can  catch  some  yellow  bass,  or  pickerel ; 
there  are  both  in  the  pond  here — you  can  take  my 
tackle.  If  you  cannot,  see  and  buy  some  eels,  and  let 
us  have  a  matelot.  With  the  soup  and  the  haunch, 
that  will  do.  Have  the  champagne  frozen  to-night. 
And  now  go  and  let  Smoker  loose." 

"  What's  vSmoker  ?"  asked  the  hunter. 

'^  The  best  deer-hound  Ame^:"ican  eyes  ever  looked 
upon.  Fresh  from  the  Highlands — a  present  from  Mr. 
Scrope,  by  the  w^iy — almost  as  great  a  deerstalker  as 
yourself,  Dolph." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  take  him  along?" 

"  Not,  if  you  say  '  No.'  But  if  w^e  wound  a  buck, 
he'll  pin  him  certainly  before  he's  gone  a  mile." 

*'  I  dar'  say  ;  but  his  yell  will  lose  us  ten  for  every  one 
he  catches.  Beside,  the  Dutchmen  hereaw^ay  will  shoot 
him  sartin.  They're  death  on  all  hounds,  and  wun't 
have  no  huntin'  here  nohow,  'less  it's  still-huntin'." 

"  Smoker  never  hunted  except  still  in  his  life.  If 
you  catch  him  speaking  once  to  the  hottest  scent,  I'll 
give  the  Dutchmen  leave  to  shoot  him.  If  they  shoot 
him  without  leave,  Brown  Bess  here,"  and  he  tapped 
the  breach  of  his  ponderous  rifle  as  he  said  the  words. 


78  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

"will   take  part   in  the  conversation;    and  when   she 
barks,  she  is  apt  to  bite,  you  know." 

<'I  know.  But  that  wouldn't  bring  the  dog  back, 
nuther.  Hows'ever,  if  he  runs  mute,  and  fights  mute, 
they  won't  harm  him,  nor  carn't,  nuther.  What  breed 
is  he?" 

'«  He  will  run  mute,  fight  mute,  and  die  mute,  I'll 
warrant  him  ;  though  I  hope  not  the  last,  yet  awhile." 

"  Well,  what  you  says,  you  says  ;  and  what  you  says 
you  knows  ;  so  I'm  agreeable.  But  you  haven't  telled 
me  what  breed  he  is." 

"  You  shall  see  ;  you  shall  see.  Here,  Smoker,  Smo- 
ker!" and  at  the  word,  the  door,  which  had  been  left 
ajar,  flew  violently  open,  and  a  noble  Scottish  wire- 
haired  deer-greyhound  came  bounding  into  the  room, 
and  at  a  gesture  from  its  master,  reared  erect,  laying 
his  shaggy  paws  upon  his  shoulders,  and  gazing  into 
his  eyes,  face  to  face. 

'<By  thunder!  he's  a  beauty,"  cried  the  impassive 
hunter,  for  once  moved  by  surprise  and  admiration  out 
of  his  wonted  quietude.  '^  He  could  a'most  pull  down 
a  heifer,  single-handed." 

"He  has  done  that  same!  and  no  deer  can  stand 
before  him  one  half  mile  in  the  open." 

t'l  dar'  be  sworn  on't.  Great  Jehu!  what  a  leg ! 
my  old  arm's  a  fool  to  it.  And  for  his  chest,  it'll  out- 
measure  ar'  a  man  here." 

"Not  forgetting  Tom  Draw,"    said  Harry,  laugh- 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  79 

ing,  '<  who  only  measures  sixty-two  inches  round  his 
chest,  while  Smoker  is  just  sixty-seven." 

<«  I  niver  see  sich  another." 

«'Nor  I.  Yet  I  have  seen  scores  of  the  breed — I 
might  almost  say  handreds.  No,  indeed,  Smoker  is  a 
non-such,  and  he's  as  good  as  he's  handsome.  Well, 
shall  we  take  him  ?" 

'<  'T would  be  a  sin  to  have  him  hurt,  I  swan  ;  and 
sartin  as  death,  if  he  hollers  on  a  trail,  some  of  them 
Dutch  fellows  will  make  him  smell  H — !" 

'«  They  may,  if  he  hollows  !" 

"  Take  him,  then,  sure  !  I'd  give  ten  dollars  to  see 
him  pull  one  down." 

<<  If  we  wound  one,  you  shall  see  it." 

"By  thunder!  thenl'll wound  the  very  fust  one  I 
shoots  at  this  good  day." 

"  Then  you  won't  bring  home  nauthen,"  sneered 
Tom  Draw. 

"Jest  twice  what  you  will,  with  t'other  gentleman, 
I'll  stand  treats,"  cried  Dolph. 

"  Done  !"  shouted  the  fat  man. 

And  "  Done  !"  replied  the  hunter,  confidently  ;  and 
then  he  added,  "but  we'll  git  nothen,  none  of  us,  if  we 
stays  here  much  longer.    Let's  up  traps,  and  track  it." 

No  sooner  said  than  done ;  five  minutes  more  and 
they  w^ere  all  in  the  open  air,  under  the  calm,  cold 
azure  canopy  of  heaven,  with  its  myriads  of  bright  stars 


THE    DEERSTALKERS. 


twinkling  with  that  peculiar  brilliancy  which  they  at  all 
times  derive  from  a  slight  touch  of  frost. 

The  mountains,  on  either  side  the  narrow  glen, 
loomed  up  superbly  dark,  like  perpendicular  walls,  of 
the  deepest  purple  hue,  opaque,  solid,  earthfast,  against 
the  liquid  and  transparent  blackness  of  the  starry  firma- 
ment. The  broad,  clear  mill-pond  at  their  base  lay 
calm  and  breezeless,  with  no  reflection  on  its  silvery 
breast,  save  the  faint  specks  of  purer  whiteness  which 
mirrored  the  eternal  planets,  motionless,  sad,  and  silent, 
yet  how^  beautiful.  The  dew^s  were  still  falling  heavily, 
and  there  w^as  in  the  air,  among  the  trees,  on  the  wa- 
ters, that  undefinable  soft  rustling  sound,  which  yet  is 
scarce  a  sound,  w^hich  we  cannot  determine,  even  w^hen 
sensible  of  it,  whether  we  hear  or  feel ;  but  other  sound 
of  man  or  beast  there  came  none  through  that  deep  and 
narrow  valley.  Ever  near  morning,  although  before 
the  earliest  east  has  paled,  the  accurate  observer  will 
find  in  nature  the  deepest  stillness. 

The  shrill  cry  of  the  katydid,  the  cicala  of  the  west, 
which  carols  so  exultingly  all  the  night  long  over  her 
goblets  of  night-dew^j  has  lulled  itself  at  last  to  rest. 
The  owls  that  hooted  from  every  dell  and  dingle,  so  long 
as  the  moon  rode  the  heavens,  have  betaken  themselves 
to  their  morning  slumbers.  The  night-frogs  have  ceased 
to  croak  from  the  wooded  hill ;  the  very  cocks,  which 
have  crowed  twice,  are  silent;  and  the  w^atch-dogs,  feel- 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  81 

ing  that  their  sagacity  will  be  required  but  a  few  hours 
longer,  have  withdrawn  to  their  cozy  kennels. 

There  is  in  this  stillness  something  peculiarly  grand, 
solemn,  and  affecting.  Involuntarily  it  reminds  one  of 
the  morning  sleep  of  the  young  child,  which,  perturbed 
and  restless  during  the  earlier  watches  of  the  night,  falls 
ever  into  the  soundest  and  most  refreshing  slumber, 
when  the  moment  is  nearest  at  which  it  shall  start  up, 
reinvigorated  and  renewed,  to  fresh  hope,  fresh  life, 
fresh  happiness. 

And  in  the  mind  of  Harry,  ever  alive  to  thick-coming 
fancies,  thoughts  such  as  these  were  aw^akened,  during 
their  swift  walk  up  the  vale  on  that  clear  still  autumnal 
morning,  far  more  than  the  keen  sportsman's  eagerness, 
or  the  exciting  ardour  of  the  chase. 

After  they  had  walked,  however,  some  twenty  min- 
utes in  complete  silence,  the  whole  programme  of  the 
day's  sport  having  been  abandoned  to  the  old  hunter's 
sagacity,  Harry  beca'me  curious  to  know  what  were  his 
arrangements  for  the  contemplated  still-hunt. 

Withdrawing,  therefore,  from  his  mouth  the  cigar 
which  he  had  been  sedulously  cultivating,  he  said  to 
the  hunter  in  a  low  voice — 

«  Well,  Dolph,  how  is  it  to  be  ?" 

"  You  goes  with  me,  in  course.  We'll  take  the  birch 
;anoe  at  the  bridge,  and  follow  the  crick  dow^n,  still  as 
Jeath,  to  Green's  Pond.  It's  like  we'll  cotch  them  as 
tliey  come   down  to  drink,  at  gray  daybreak.     Then, 


82  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

when  we  reach  the  pond  edge,  we'll  round  the  western 
eend,  and  so  creep  up  the  brook  that  comes  down 
through  the  cedars,  clear  from  the  mountain  top,  and 
work  up  that  to  leeward,  'till  we  strikes  Old  Bald-head 
yander  ;"  and  as  he  spoke,  he  designated  the  huge 
crest  of  a  distant  hill,  crowned,  far  above  its  robe  of 
many-coloured  foliage,  with  a  gray  diadem  of  everlast- 
ing granite.  ''  There's  a  green  feedin'-ground  jest 
under  yan  bare  crag,  with  nothen  only  a  few  stunted 
yellow  birches  and  a  red  cedar  here  and  there,  where 
there's  a  herd  a'most  alius  ;  and  if  so  be  we  happen  on 
'em  there,  they've  no  chance  to  wind  us,  nor  to  see  us, 
nuther,  unless  they've  got  a  doe  set  out,  sentinel-like, 
up  the  rocks ;  and  then  we'll  stalk  the  whole  west 
mountain  down  to  the  outlet,  where  we'll  meet  the  rest 
on  'em,  and  take  a  bite  and  sup  at  something,  maybe  ; 
and  then  we'll  send  the  boys  with  the  ponies  to  fetch 
up  the  game,  if  so  be  we've  the  luck  to  kill  any  on't; 
and  we'll  all  paddle  up  the  crick  agin  at  night,  and  so 
take  chance  to  git  'em  at  the  evenin'  drink.  The  flies 
has  quit  botherin'  'em,  since  the  cold  has  sot  in,  and 
we  wunt  find  none  in  the  pond,  I'm  a  thinkin'." 

<«  But  what  will  you  do  with  Draw,  and  Mr.  Fores- 
ter ?  You  must  remember  that  old  Tom  cannot  foot  it 
now — " 

"  Not  as  he  used  to  could,"  replied  Dolph,  "not  as  he 
used  to  could,  I  allow ;  still  it  'ud  take  more  nor  a  slouch 
to  worry  "^he  old  critter  down      And  that  green-coated 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  83 

chap  ;  I  guess  he  ar'n't  no  great  shines  at  travellin',  no 
how — " 

tt  Ah  !  that's  just  where  you're  out,  Dolph,  and  you're 
not  out  very  often  either.  He  can  travel  like  a  hunted 
wolf,  I  tell  you  ;  and  he's  a  prime  sportsman,  and  a 
crack  shot  at  small  game,  though  not  much  used  to 
work  of  this  kind.  But  you  must  send  them  where 
they'll  get  shots,  or  they'll  be  mad  at  us  ;  and  it  would 
not  be  fair  either,  to  throw  them  over." 

"  In  course  not ;  I  counts  to  put  them  on  the  best 
easy  ground.  When  w^e  take  the  canoe,  three  of  my 
boys  w^ill  meet  them  with  two  ponies,  so  they  can  ride 
down  to  Cobus  Vanderbeck's  mill,  on  the  outlet,  where 
it's  broad,  and  full  of  islands  like,  and  channels. 
They'll  git  canoes  there  sure,  and  two  o'  the  boys  will 
paddle  them,  and  the  t'other,  why  he'll  follow  with  the 
ponies.  It'll  be  all  they'll  do  to  git  to  the  pond  by  the 
time  we  strikes  it,  though  we've  got  fourteen  miles  to 
walk,  not  countin'  what  w^e  crosses  over  and  agin'  in 
beatin'  like.  Oh  !  that's  prime  feedin'-grounds,  them 
islands,  and  the  boys,  they  knows  every  inch  on  'em  , 
and  they'll  come  on  the  deer  quarterin'  upwind,  too,  sc 
they  won't  smell  'em.  I  wouldn't  wonder,  not  one 
mite,  if  they  was  to  git  ten  shots  this  day.  But,  Lord, 
heart  alive  !  we'll  beat  'em  some." 

«'  Why,  how  many  do  you  count  upon  our  getting  ?" 

"  I'll  be  most  mighty  onsatisfied,  now  I  toll  you,  if 
we  don't  git  six  fair  ones." 


84  THE    DLERSTALKKRS, 

"  Six  won't  beat  ten." 

"  You  knows  better  nor  that ;  you  and  I'll  kill  five 
out  of  six,  sartin." 

"  So  will  Tom,  easy." 

"  Yes ;  if  they  stand  still  and  wait  for  him.  Don't 
you  tell  me ;  if  we  get  six,  and  they  ten  shots,  we'll 
beat  them  to  etarnal  smash." 

"  I  hardly  think  we  shall  get  sixteen  shots  among 
us." 

"  I  do,  Mister  Aircher.  Deers  is  as  plenty  this  fall, 
as  they's  been  scace  these  six  years  agone." 

"  Here  we  are  at  the  bridge ;  but  I  don't  see  the  boys 
or  the  ponies." 

"  Oh  !  they'll  be  here  torights.  I'll  call  'em."  And 
putting  his  fore-finger  into  his  mouth,  he  produced  a 
long  shrieking  whistle,  which  rang  through  the  hills 
more  like  the  cry  of  some  fierce  bird  of  prey  than  any 
sound  of  the  human  voice. 

Such  as  it  was,  however,  it  found  a  reply  in  a  second, 
and  directly  afterward  the  clatter  of  horses'  hoofs  was 
heard  coming  rapidly  down  the  hard  road  ;  and  a  minute 
after  the  boys,  represented  by  one  white  lad  of  some 
eighteen  years  of  age,  Dolph's  second  son,  and  two  of 
what  Tom  Draw  called  stinkin'  black  buck  niggers, 
came  in  sight,  with  a  couple  of  rough,  hardy-looking, 
low,  round-barrelled  ponies. 

"  Here  we  leave  you,  Frank.  You  and  Tom  go  to- 
day with  Dolph's  son,"    said    Harry   Archer.     "  You 


THE   DEERSTALKERS,  85 

will  ride  about  three  miles  and  then  take  the  canoes. 
You  have  the  best  ground  and  the  easiest  walking— or 
I  should  rather  say  the  least  walking;  for  yours  will  be 
almost  all  boat-work.  Dolph  says  that  you  will  get  ten 
shots  to  our  six ;  so  look  sharp,  that  we  don't  beat  you.'* 

"I  wisht  to  heaven  you  may  git  ten  and  we  six,  boy," 
cried  Tom,  «<  and  then  you'd  see  who'd  beat,  I  feckon. 
Oh!  I  am  most  onmighty  glad  to  see  them  ponies. 
You've  been  comin'  too  fast  for  the  old  man,  altogither — 
another  mile  would  have  busted  me  up  clean.  I  am  glad, 
by  Gin  I  to  see  the  pony." 

"  It's  more  than  the  pony  is  to  see  you,  if  he  has  any 
nous  at  all,"  said  Archer,  and  so  they  parted. 

And  weary  w^ork  was  before  them,  ere  they  met  again 
at  the  outlet  of  the  lake,  at  which  they  were  to  arrive 
from  two  diametrically  opposite  quarters. 

Harry  stepped  lightly  into  the  birch  canoe,  which  lay 
moored  in  very  shallow  water,  and  the  sagacious  hound, 
accustomed  of  yore  to  every  variety  of  field  sport,  crept 
into  it,  as  gingerly  as  if  he  were  treading  upon  eggs, 
and  coiled  himself  up  in  the  very  centre  of  the  frail 
vessel,  as  if  he  knew  exactly  how  to  balance  it,  in  a 
position  from  which  nothing  could  have  disturbed  him 
short  of  the  absolute  command  of  his  master. 

Last  Dolph  the  hunter  entered,  and  assumed  his  place 
in  the  stern,  Harry  occupying  the  bow,  but  with  their 
faces  toward  the  head  of  the  canoe,  and  the  gripes  of 
their  rifles  ready  to  be  grasped  at  the  shortest  notice. 


86  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

"  Ready  I"  said  Dolph,  in  that  low  guarded  tone  which 
is  peculiar  to  the  forester  of  North  America. 

And  "  Ready  I"  responded  Archer,  in  the  like  wary  ac- 
cents. And  at  the  word  each  dipped  his  paddle  in  the 
clear  water,  and  away  shot  the  light  vessel,  propelled 
almost  without  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  rowers ;  and  in 
two  or  three  minutes  at  farthest  they  had  lost  sight  of  the 
rustic  bridge,  and  the  group  assembled  to  watch  their 
departure.  The  stream  w^as  in  this  place  very  narrow, 
in  no  spot  above  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  across,  but 
proportionably  deep  and  rapid,  flowing  over  a  bottom 
of  yellow  sand  and  gravel,  through  a  wide  boggy 
meadow. 

"  Are  there  trout  here,  Dolph  ?" 

"  Lots  on  'em,  clear  down  to  the  pond.  But  no  one 
niver  cotched  none  in  the  pond ;  nor  no  pickerel, 
which  is  plenty  in  the  pond,  up  hereaways  in  the  crick ; 
and  that  seems  to  me  cur'ous." 

««Not  at  all,  Dolph.  Not  at  all  curious.  The  pond 
water  is  too  warm  for  the  trout,  and  this  spring  brook  is 
too  cold  for  pickerel." 

t'  Likely.     I  ar'n't  no  fisherman,  nohow." 

ii  How  far  do  you  call  it  down  to  the  pond }  I  have 
forgotten." 

"  Six  mile." 

"  And  how  far  to  the  first  chance  for  deer?" 

"  That's  it,"  he  answered,  pointing  forward  to  a  low 
tract  of  scrubby  brushwood,  at  about  half  a  mile's  dis- 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  87 

tance,  into  which,  some  twenty  minutes  afterward,  the 
canoe  was  borne  by  the  rapid  current  of  the  brook 
under  a  deep  arch  of  emerald  verdure. 

<«  Lay  by  your  paddle,  and  take  up  the  rifle  now, 
and  lie  flat  on  your  face.  I'll  keep  her  goin'  as  slick 
as  can  be." 

No  sooner  had  he  spoken  than  Harry  did  as  he  was 
directed,  and  making  his  rifle  ready  for  the  most  sudden 
emergency,  he  stretched  himself  out  horizontally  in  the 
bottom  of  the  boat,  with  his  keen  eye  alone  gleaming 
out  watchfully  above  the  sharp  bows,  and  lay  there  as 
quietly  as  if  he  had  been  a  statue  carved  in  wood. 

At  this  instant  the  birch  canoe  shot  under  the  arch 
of  dense  umbrage,  for  the  most  part  still  verdant,  where 
it  was  composed  principally  of  alders,  but  in  places 
coloured  by  the  autumnal  frosts  with  almost  every  hue 
of  the  rainbow^,  and  varying  from  the  deepest  crimson 
to  the  most  brilliant  orange  and  chrome  yellow. 

By  this  time  the  sun  had  risen,  and  a  pale  yellow 
lustre  had  crept  inch  by  inch,  as  it  were,  over  the  pale 
horizon,  till  the  stars  were  all  put  out,  each  after  each, 
according  to  the  various  degrees  of  their  intensity,  and 
the  whole  universe  was  laughing  in  the  glorious  sun- 
light. 

Mile  after  mile,  they  floated  on  in  silence — silence 
unbroken  except  by  the  dash  of  the  mute  hunter's  pad- 
pie — now  darting  across  lonely  pools,  encircled  by  tall 

trees,  clad  in  all  gorgeous  tints,  and  carpeted  with  the 
113 


THE    DEERSTALKERS. 


broad  smooth  green  leaves  of  the  water-lily —  pools 
from  which  the  gay  summer-duck,  or  the  blue-WTnged 
teal  flashed  up  on  sudden  wing  before  their  glancing 
prow — now  shooting  down  swift  rapids,  overarched  by 
bushes  so  densely  umbrageous  that  it  was  difficult  to 
force  a  w^ay  between  their  tangled  masses. 

Still  no  sight  or  sound  met  their  eyes  or  ears  which 
betokened  in  any  sense  the  vicinity  of  the  wild  cattle 
of  the  hills,  and  Archer  was  beginning  to  wax  impatient 
and  uneasy,  when  suddenly,  bursting  from  out  a  thick 
heavy  arbour,  the  canoe  shot  into  a  little  pond,  as  it 
were,  below  which  was  a  quick-glancing  rapid,  divided 
into  three  channels  by  a  small  green  island,  nearly  be- 
fore the  boat's  head,  and  a  huge  block  of  granite,  a  vast 
boulder,  which  had  been  swept  down  in  some  remote 
period  from  the  overtopping  hills,  farther  to  the  left. 
The  island  w^as  not  at  the  utmost  three  yards  across, 
yet  on  it  there  grew  a  tall  silver-barked  birch,  and  under 
the  shade  of  the  birch  stood  two  beautiful  and  graceful 
deer,  one  sipping  the  clear  w^ater,  and  the  other  gazing 
down  the  brook  in  the  direction  opposite  to  that  from 
which  the  hunters  were  coming  upon  them. 

Neither  of  the  three  channels  of  the  stream  was  above 
twelve  or  fourteen  feet  across,  and  that  to  the  right  was 
somewhat  the  deepest ;  it  was,  therefore,  through  this 
that  the  hunter  had  intended  to  guide  his  boat,  even 
before  he  saw  the  quarry. 

No  breath  of  air  was  stirring  in  those  deep,  sylvan 


THE  BUCK  PEER.— P^/^^eSf). 


«  •  •   «  «         * 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  89 

haunts,  so  that  no  taint,  telling  of  man's  appalling  pre- 
sence, was  borne  to  the  timid  nostrils  of  the  wild  ani- 
mals, which  were  already  cut  off  from  the  nearer  shore 
before  they  perceived  the  approach  of  their  mortal  foes. 

The  quick  eye  of  Archer  caught  them  upon  the 
instant,  and  almost  simultaneously  the  hunter  had 
checked  the  way  of  the  canoe,  and  laid  aside  his 
paddle. 

He  was  already  stretching  out  his  hand  to  grasp  the 
ready  rifle,  when  Archer's  piece  rose  to  his  shoulder 
with  a  steady  slow  motion;  the  trigger  was  drawn,  and 
ere  the  close  report  had  time  to  reach  its  ears,  the 
nearer  of  the  two  bucks  had  fallen,  with  its  heart  cleft 
asunder  by  the  unerring  bullet,  into  the  glassy  ripple 
out  of  which  it  had  been  drinking,  tinging  the  calm 
pool  far  and  wide  with  its  life-blood. 

Quick  as  light,  as  the  red  flash  gleamed  over  the 
ambrageous  spot,  long  before  it  had  caught  the  rifle's 
crack,  the  second,  with  a  mighty  bound,  had  cleared 
the  intervening  channel,  and  lighted  upon  the  gray 
granite  rock.  Not  one  second's  space  did  it  pause  there, 
however,  but  gathering  its  agile  limbs  again,  sprang 
shoreward. 

A  second  more  it  had  been  safe  in  the  coppice.  But 
in  that  very  second,  the  nimble  finger  of  the  sportsman 
had  cocked  the  second  barrel ;  and  while  the  gallant 
beast  was  suspended  in  mid  air,  the  second  ball  was 
sped  on  its  errand. 


90  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

A  dull,  dead  splash,  heard  by  the  hunters  before  the 
crack,  announced  that  the  ball  had  taken  sure  effect, 
and,  arrested  in  its  leap,  the  noble  quarry  fell. 

For  one  moment's  space  it  struggled  in  the  narrow 
rapid,  then,  by  a  mighty  effort  rising  again,  it  dashed 
forward,  feebly  fleet,  keeping  the  middle  of  the  channel. 

Meanwhile  the  boat,  unguided  by  the  paddle  and 
swept  in  by  the  driving  current,  had  touched  upon  the 
gravel  shoal  and  was  motionless. 

Feeling  this  as  it  were  instinctively,  Harry  un- 
sheathed his  long  knife,  and  with  a  wild  shrill  cheer  to 
Smoker,  sprang  first  ashore,  and  then  plunged  reck- 
lessly into  the  knee-deep  current ;  but  ere  he  had  made 
three  strides,  the  fleet  dog  passed  him,  with  his  white 
tushes  glancing  from  his  black  lips,  and  his  eyes  glaring 
like  coals  of  lire,  as  he  sped  mute  and  rapid  as  the  wind 
after  the  wounded  game. 

The  vista  of  the  wood  through  which  the  brook  ran 
straight  was  not  at  the  most  above  fifty  paces  in  length, 
and  of  these  ihe  wounded  buck  had  gained  at  least  ten 
clear  start. 

Ere  it  had  gone  twenty  more,  however,  the  fleet  dog 
had  it  by  the  throat.  There  was  a  stern,  short  strife, 
and  both  went  down  toofether  into  the  flashinoj  waters. 
Then,  ere  the  buck  could  relieve  itself,  or  harm  the  no- 
ble dog,  the  keen  knife  of  Archer  was  in  its  throat — 
one  sob,  and  all  was  over. 

('I  swon,"  cried  the  hunter,  "them  was  two  smar*- 


TIIK    DKKRSTALKERS.  91 

shots  inyhow — and  that  'ere  dog's  hard  to  beat.  Let's 
liquor." 

Liquor  they  did  accordingly — and  after  that  proceeded 
to  disembowel  the  two  deer,  to  flesh  the  gallant  Smoker, 
and  then  to  hoist  their  quarry  up  into  the  forks  of  two 
lofty  maples,  where  they  should  be  beyond  the  reach 
of  any  passing  quadruped  or  biped  plunderer. 

This  done,  they  again  paddled  onward,  and  shortly 
after  ten  o'clock  reached  the  Green  Pond,  w^ithout 
obtaining  any  other  shot.  An  hour  more  carried  them 
around  the  head  of  that  great  forest  lake,  but  without 
moving  any  worthier  game  than  a  team  or  two  of  wild 
ducks,  and  two  or  three  large  blue-winged  herons. 

At  the  lake's  head,  they  moored  their  little  skiff,  and 
thence  struggled  up  the  difficult  and  perilous  chasm  of 
its  head  waters,  through  brakes  of  tufted  cedars,  over 
smooth,  slippery  rocks,  up  white  and  foamy  ledges  to 
the  gray  summit  of  the  mighty  hill. 

Three  hours  had  been  consumed  m  this  strong  toil , 
and  though  every  tuft  of  moss,  every  sere  leaf  that 
might  bear  a  footprint,  had  been  wistfully  examined — 
though  every  trunk  against  which  a  stag  might  fray  his 
antlers  had  been  noted,  no  trail  had  been  found,  and 
their  hearts  began  to  wax  as  faint  as  their  limbs  were 
weary. 

Both  w^ere  toil-worn  and  broken  when  they  reached 
the  summit,  but  even  so  the  hunter  declined  the  proffered 
cup  of  Ferintosh ;  and,  content  with  bathing  his  brow 


92  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

and  hands  in  tlie  cold  element  of  which  he  dared  not 
drink,  so  weary  was  he  and  so  faint,  he  soon  announced 
that  he  was  ready  to  proceed. 

A  few  steps  brought  them  to  the  very  crest  of  the 
huge  mountain,  and  there  casting  himself  down  on  the 
bare  rock,  he  wormed  his  way  like  a  serpent  to  the 
brink,  which  overhung  the  valley,  and  signed  Harry  to 
follow  his  example. 

For  nearly  ten  minutes  they  dragged  themselves  pain- 
fully over  the  rough  gray  stones,  before  they  reached 
the  abrupt  ledge  of  the  rocky  platform.  A  moment 
before  they  did  reach  it,  however,  Dolph  Pierson  paused, 
took  off  his  cap,  and  laid  it  on  the  rock,  looked  to  the 
caps  of  his  rifle,  and  made  a  gesture  of  his  hand,  indi- 
cating the  necessity  of  the  greatest  caution. 

Ten  seconds  afterward  they  had  reached  the  extreme 
verge,  and  carefully  advancing  their  heads  beyond  the 
brink,  they  gazed  anxiously  down  into  the  valley  at 
their  feet. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  DEATH  OF  THE  STAG. 

It  was  a  stag,  a  stag  often, 

Bearing  his  branches  sturdily  ; 
He  came  stately  down  the  glen, 

Ever  sing  hardily,  hardily. 

Lady  of  the  Lake. 

Gcul !  what  a  view  was  there !  The  sheer  and  per- 
pendicular precipice  fell  down  at  once  above  two  hun- 
dred feet,  in  one  vast  wall  of  primitive  rock,  with  here 
and  there  the  stem  of  a  bleached  and  thunder-splintered 
pine,  thrusting  its  ghastly  skeleton  forth  into  the  mid 
air,  from  some  crevice  or  fissure  wherein  its  roots  had 
found  a  little  casual  mould  to  support  its  precarious  and 
difficult  existence. 

Beneath  this  gigantic  mountain  wall,  the  hill-side 
sloped  away,  very  steep  and  abrupt,  but  unbroken  by 
any  knoll  or  crag,  for  several  miles  in  length,  to  the 
margin  of  the  clear  lake,  which  lay  embosomed  in  its 
pine  forests,  like  a  mirror  surrounded  by  a  wreath  of 
evergreens,  to  so  small  a  size  had  it  dwindled  from  the 
distance  ;   with  the  bright  brook  which   rushed  into  it, 


94  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

rapid  and  turbulent,  from  the  westward,  and  the  pellucid 
brimful  river  which  stole  forth  from  it  in  the  opposite 
direction,  winding  among  the  verdant  meadow^s,  and 
many-coloured  w^oodlands,  like  a  long  silver  ribbon. 

Beyond  the  little  lake  stretched  miles  and  miles  of 
gorgeous  autumnal  woodland  to  the  southward,  miles 
and  miles  of  dark  piny  forest,  with  here  and  there  a 
cultivated  clearing  laughing  out  among  the  foliage,  its 
white- walled  cottages  and  village  steeple  glinting 
back  the  long  sunbeams ;  and  farther  yet  aloof,  still 
other  lakes  isledotted,  and  other  streams  blue  glim- 
mering ;  and  leagues  away  on  the  horizon  a  long  Ime 
of  blue  mountains,  scarcely  distinguishable  from  the 
azure  of  the  sky,  veiled  as  they  were  by  the  thin  golden 
haze  of  an  American  autumn,  and  flooded  by  the  unri- 
valled splendour  of  its  shimmering  sunshine. 

Glorious  as  was  that  scene,  however,  and  rich  with 
all  accidents  of  light  and  shadow,  sweet  to  a  painter's 
eye,  and  well  adapted  to  call  forth  all  the  latent  romance 
of  a  young  and  imaginative  intellect,  and  such  pre- 
eminently w^as  the  intellect  of  Harry  Archer,  it  must  be 
confessed  that  for  once  his  eye  strayed  over  it  uncon- 
scious of  its  beauties,  or,  if  not  unconscious,  at  least 
careless. 

The  hill-side,  between  the  rocky  w^all  and  the  lake, 
had  been  swept  by  fire  not  many  years  before,  and  was 
now  covered  w^ith  a  rich  growth  of  tall  grass,  and  low 
bushy  shrubs,  with  here  and  there  the  black  scathed 


THi:    DEERSTALKERS.  95 

trunk  of  some  gigantic  cedar  towering  up,  a  monument 
of  past  devastation,  from  its  verdant  slope,  and  here 
and  there  a  group  of  young  graceful  trees,  which  had 
shot  up  vigorously  from  the  ashes  of  their  sires  towards 
the  clear  skies,  and  bright  sun,  which  they  could 
now  behold,  no  longer  cowed  and  opposed  by  the 
tyrannous  verdure  of  their  gigantic  ancestry. 

This  was  the  famous  feeding-ground,  to  overlook 
which  our  hunters  had  toiled  so  painfully  to  the  summit 
of  that  towering  precipice ;  and,  as  Dolph  had  observed, 
rarely  was  it,  indeed,  that  its  rich  and  succulent  pasture 
could  not  display  one  herd,  at  least,  to  the  sportsman's 
ken. 

The  gentle  south-west  wind  blew  full  and  fresh  into 
the  faces  of  Harry  and  the  hunter,  so  that  no  taint  could 
be  carried  from  the  persons,  by  the  nimble  atmosphere, 
to  the  dehcate  organs  of  their  intended.  It  was  the 
quick  eyes,  therefore,  of  the  sentinel  does  only,  that  it 
was  necessary  for  them  now  to  avoid. 

The  first  glance  was  enough  to  fill  a  hunter's  heart 
with  rapture,  for,  close  below  the  crags,  and  mthin  easy 
shot  of  the  platform  on  which  they  lay,  a  noble  herd  was 
pasturing;  three  gallant  bucks,  one  of  the  first  head, 
and  twice  the  number  of  slim  and  graceful  hinds ;  besides 
a  seventh,  which  stood  a  few  hundred  paces  from  the 
rest  on  a  httle  knoll,  or  gentle  elevation  lower  than 
what  we  should  term  a  knoll,  with  head  erect,  ears 
pricked  up  and  expanded  to  catch  the  smallest  sound, 


96  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

widely  distended  nostrils  snuffing  the  breeze,  as  anxious 
to  detect  some  taint  on  its  fresh  balmy  breath,  and  eyes 
keenly  and  warily  roving  over  the  whole  expanse  of 
rock,  wood,  pasture,  lake,  and  river. 

No  rash  or  boyish  excitement  at  the  view  prevented 
those  skilful  foresters  from  taking  an  accurate  survey 
of  all  that  lay  wdthin  the  range  of  their  vision ;  no  burst 
of  eager  impulse  led  them  to  discharge  their  rifles  at 
the  nearer  herd  until  such  time  as  they  should  have 
accurately  scanned  the  whole  pasture  range,  to  see  if 
there  might  not  be  some  other  deer  within  reach,  which 
it  might  be  possible  to  circumvent  before  pulling  trigger 
on  these ;  which  might  be  considered  as  completely 
wdthin  their  power. 

Their  scrutiny  was  speedily  and  well  rew^arded ;  for 
in  three  several  points  of  the  landscape  did  they  detect 
the  noble  animals  of  which  they  were  in  quest,  tranquilly 
feeding  on  the  long  grass,  and  incumbent  branches  of 
the  underwood,  entirely  unconscious  of  the  vicinity  of 
their  deadly  enemies. 

In  one  little  open  glade  about  a  mile  to  the  eastward, 
there  was  a  noble  hart  of  the  largest  size,  with  a  year- 
ling buck,  or  prickhorn,  and  tw^o  barren  hinds.  Among 
the  dense  coppice- wood,  yet  half  a  mile  farther  to  the 
east,  the  wood-brown  backs  and  hornless  heads  of 
several  more  hinds  might  be  distinguished  by  a  prac- 
tised eye,  though  it  was  not  easy  to  make  out  their 
exact  number.     Far  away,  to  complete  the  tale,  on  the 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  97 

margin  of  the  woods  skirting  the  lake,  a  yet  larger  herd, 
than  any  of  those  nearer  to  the  sportsmen,  were  lying 
down  to  rest,  licking  their  glossy  coats,  or  scratching 
their  ears  with  their  cloven  hoofs,  in  perfect  security 
and  fearlessness. 

In  a  word,  from  the  elevated  station  on  w^hich  they 
lay  overlooking  the  wide  valley,  not  less  than  forty  or 
fifty  head  of  deer  w^ere  visible  at  once,  among  which 
the  hunters  had  been  at  the  first  glance  able  to  detect 
with  certainty  two  harts  of  the  first  head,  or  what  in  the 
Scottish  forests  would  be  called  harts  rOyal,  and  two 
other  stags  of  six  or  eight  branches,  besides  the  yearling 
prickhorn.  The  farthest  herd  was  too  distant  to  admit 
of  their  distinguishing  the  age  or  even  the  sex  of  the 
animals  w^hich  composed  it. 

Ten  minutes  were  perhaps  devoted  by  the  hunters 
to  this  survey  of  their  scene  of  action,  during  which 
neither  of  the  two  moved  hand  or  foot,  or  indeed  gave 
any  sign  of  life  except  by  the  keen  glances  of  their 
watchful  and  roving  eyes.  At  length,  when  each  was 
apparently  satisfied  with  that  which  he  had  himself  seen, 
their  eyes  met,  with  a  look  of  mutual  intelligence ;  and 
drawing  back  their  heads  as  warily  as  they  had  thrust 
them  forw^ard,  they  wormed  their  way  backward  foot 
by  foot  over  the  craggy  plalfijrm,  until  they  reached  a 
little  hollow  of  the  rocks  at  about  a  hundred  yards' 
distance  from  the  brink,  and  then,  safely  out  of  eyeshot 


98  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

and  earshot  of  the  wary  herds,  they  paused  in  consul- 
tation. 

"  Well,  Mister  Aircher,"  the  old  hunter  began,  "  yan 
is  a  noble  sight  for  a  hunter's  eye,  is  yan!  You  niver 
seed  jest  sich  another,  I'm  a  thinkin'.  There's  fawty 
head  of  deer  on  the  range,  if  there's  one.  Do  tell  now, 
did  you  iver  see  the  like  .'"' 

t«  Many's  the  time,  Dolph,  many's  the  time,  on  Brae- 
mar,  and  from  the  craigs  of  Ben-y-Ghoil.  But  never 
mind  that  now.  How  do  you  mean  to  work  them  ?  and 
how  many  call  we  get  ?  I  make  four  parcels,  within 
eye-range,  that  may  be  worked  up  to  ;  but  one  of  the 
four  is  all  hinds,  and  of  no  account." 

"  Four  passels,"  replied  the  hunter,  doubtfully. 
«<Four  passels  there  be,  sure  enough;  but  how  the 
heavens  and  airth  you'd  work  up  to  the  big  lot  by  the 
pond  edge,  is  more  nor  I  can  calkilate.  No,  no,  boy. 
There's  three  passels,  only,  'at  can  be  shot  at  by  this 
party;  and,  as  you  says  right,  one  of  them's  all  does, 
and  of  no  account.  That  nighest  bunch  to  the  eastward 
has  got  one  fine  biggest  sort  of  buck  in  it ;  but  if  we 
goes  to  shoot  it  fust,  and  I  won't  say  as  it  can't  be 
shot,  cause  the  rocks  is  a  plaguy  sight  lower  there- 
away than  they  is  here  ;  if  we  goes,  I  say,  to  shoot  it 
fust,  I'm  afeard  that  the  wind,  which  takes  a  swirl  like, 
oncet  and  agin,  amongst  these  big  gray  stones,  will 
bring  down  the  scent  of  us,  and  mayhap  the  crack  of 
the  rifles  too,  and  so  skear  these  away.     I  guess  it's 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  99 

best  to  pick  the  three  bucks  out  of  this  nighest  passel, 
and  let  the  others  fjo." 

«' I  think  not,  Dolph,"  replied  Archer,  confidently ; 
"  and  I  assure  you  that  there  are  four  parcels,  beside 
that  by  the  lake.  Your  eyes,  good  as  they  are,  have 
failed  you  for  once.  You  know  the  deep  narrow  gully 
that  forks  from  the  glen  we  came  up  to  the  mountain, 
and  cuts  right  across  the  pasturage  from  the  west, 
eastward — " 

"  Katycornered  like,"  interrupted  the  hunter.  "  Yes, 
I  knows  it,  and  knowed  it  afore  iver  you  was  thought 
on  ;  what  on't,  Aircher  .'"' 

<'  Why,  about  twenty  yards  below  it,  there  lies  a  great 
round-headed  gray  rock,  w^hat  I  call  a  boulder,  w^hich 
must  have  fallen  from  these  crags  ages  since  ;  and  a 
hundred  yards  again,  or  thereabout,  below  that,  there 
stands  a  tall  black  half-burnt  cedar,  with  a  thicket  of 
briars  and  wild  raspberry-bushes  about  its  foot — look 
here,  Dolph,"  he  continued,  pointing  to  the  scathed  top 
of  a  pine  projecting  from  the  face  of  the  crags,  "  bring 
that  white  pine  top  into  a  range  with  the  spot  where  the 
feeder  comes  into  the  Green  Pond,  and  you  will  have 
rock,  cedar-stump,  and  all,  in  one  range.  Well,  that 
done,  look  close  in  at  the  bottom  of  the  cedar;  and 
among  the  briars  you  w^ill  see  a  monstrous  stag,  couched 
all  alone.  I  do  think,  Dolph,  it  is  the  big  mouse- 
coloured  hart  you  wounded   last  fall  on  the  northern 


100  THK    DEEKSTALKERS. 

slope  ;  tlie  hart,  I  mean,  that  we  tracked  thirty  miles  in 
the  snow,  and  lost  after  all." 

«'  Do  you  though,  Aircher?  By  H w^e  must  have 

liim,  if  so  be,  it  be  he.  He  had  twelve  branches  on  his 
horns  then,  and  he'll  have  thirteen  now — don't  you 
mind  that,  for  sartln  ?" 

<' Surely  I  do;  but  he  is  too  far  off  now  for  me  to 
mark  that  distinctly ;  and,  as  w^e  lay,  I  could  not  get 
my  glass  out.  Here  it  is,  fit  it  to  your  focus,  and  creep 
forward  and  examine  him  ;  I  would  rather  have  your 
judgment  than  my  own,  by  one-half." 

"  I  dun'  know — I  dun'  know,"  replied  the  old  hunt- 
er, gazing  at  him  with  not  a  little  of  admiration,  and 
perhaps  a  slight  shade  of  half  good-humoured  envy; 
"  them  eyes  o'  yourn  is  young,  and  I  thinks  as  how 
they  grows  younger  like  and  keener  ivery  year  ;  and 
mine's  a  failin'  me  for  sartin.  I'll  go,  though,  I'll  go, 
boy.  But  fust  tell  a  feller  how  you  thinks  to  do  with 
them — so  I'll  be  able  to  make  out  and  settle  all  slick 
and  to  rights.  We  moun't  be  creepin'  any  more  to  the 
edge  like,  if  we  don't  warnt  to  skear  'em.  What's  your 
plan,  say?" 

<'  My  plan's  soon  told,  Dolph.  It  is  that  you  should 
lie  here  on  the  brow,  keeping  that  royal  hart  under  your 
rifle  all  the  time.  That  I  should  creep  dow^n  the  ravine, 
or  gully,  to  the  gray  stone ;  and  if  I  can  once  get  to 
that,  I  can  fetch  him  sure.  There's  a  strong  run  of 
water  in  the  gnlh;  and  the  ripple  of  that  will  drown 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  101 

the  noise  of  my  feet ;  and  the  ravine  is  so  deep,  and  its 
face  on  this  side  is  so  steep  and  broken,  that  I  think 
this  light  wind  will  sweep  right  over  it,  without  bring- 
ing any  taint  of  me  to  the  nostrils  of  that  knowing  doe. 
Then,  if  I  can  manage  it  rightly,  and  shoot  the  big  hart 
before  he  bounces,  there'll  be  nothing  but  the  rifle- 
crack,  which  will  only  sound  like  a  squib  in  the  open, 
and  a  puff  of  smoke,  which,  if  they  neither  see  nor  smell 
me,  will  scarce  alarm  them.  But  if  it  do,  and  you 
shoot  down  the  old  stag,  as  you  can  do  certainly,  the 
herd  will  either  strike  down  hill  toward  the  east  end  of 
the  gulley,  where  I  can  race  for  it  under  cover,  and 
perhaps  get  another  double  shot  at  them  ;  or,  they  will 
dash  directly  eastward  along  the  base  of  the  crags,  ta- 
king that  other  big  hart,  the  prickhorn,  and  the  two  does 
along  with  them  ;  and  in  that  case  you  must  head  them 
along  the  cliff-tops,  where  they  trend  northerly  away  ; 
when  you  will  probably  drive  the  whole  of  the  two  par- 
cels down  to  the  outlet,  where  Tom  and  Frank  Forester 
will  be  ready  by  that  time  to  give  an  account  of  them. 
Again,  if  none  of  them  take  the  alarm,  I'll  steal  up  the 
gorge  back  to  you,  without  bleeding  him  or  breaking 
him  up,  till  after  we  have  done  with  all  the  other  par- 
cels. Then  I  can  creep  along  the  summit  here,  till  I 
get  opposite  the  big  stag,  and  the  prickhorn,  when  per- 
haps I  can  get  both  of  them,  while  you  knock  over  this 
chap  here  below  you.  That's  all ;  what  do  you  think 
ofit,  Dolpt?" 


102  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

"  I  dun'  know  yit  awliiles,"  replied  the  old  forester, 
as  he  brought  Harry's  glass  to  the  right  focus  for  his 
eye.  "  I'll  go  off  and  see  how  't  looks,  and  be  back 
torights,  and  we'll  fix  it  one  w^ay.  Seems  to  me  the  wind 
is  kind  o'  breezin'  stronger  up,  and  drawin'  westerly 
more,  and  that'll  be  agin  your  not  skeerin'  'em.  But 
we'll  see." 

And  off  he  crawled  for  the  second  time,  leaving  his 
rifle  and  his  cap  behind  him,  and  carrying  Harry's  fine 
Dolland  telescope  carefully  in  his  right  hand,  w^hile  with 
the  left  he  wormed  himself  along  the  surface  of  the 
ground. 

Archer,  thus  left  alone,  applied  himself  to  a  careful 
examination  of  his  rifle.  He  took  off  the  caps,  to  see 
that  the  powder  was  well  up  in  the  nipples ;  and,  satis- 
fied that  all  w^as  right,  wiped  the  cones  w^ith  a  piece  of 
greased  leather,  renewed  the  caps,  ran  his  rod  down 
the  barrels,  and  finding  that  everything  was  in  right 
working  order,  drew  out  his  dram-bottle,  ate  a  sand- 
wich, and  w^ashed  it  down  by  a  moderate  sup  of  the 
old  Ferintosh. 

This  done,  he  shook  himself,  with  a  well  satisfied  air 
and  expression ;  raised  the  heavy  rifle  tw^o  or  three 
times  to  his  eye,  and  as  he  laid  it  aside  muttered  to 
himself.  "  Til  have  that  hart  royal  for  a  thousand !" 

As  he  spoke,  Dolph  returned  from  his  reconnoissance, 
and  as  he  thrust  the  joints  of  the  telescope  together  be- 
tween the  palms  of  his  horny  hands,  '<  All's  right,"  he 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  103 

said,  "Mr.  Aircher.  Your  plan  is  the  best,  I  think. 
We'll  git  the  two  best  bucks  so,  inyhow,  and  maybe  an- 
other. But,  as  it  is,  I'd  rayther  have  that  'ere  big  'un.of 
all,  than  three  common- sized.  The  wind  has  hauled  a 
pint  more  to  the  westward  nor  it  was  ;  and  its  kind  o' 
freshenin'  up,  so  I  kind  o'  thinks  as  your  shot  '11  skear 
this  passel ;  but  I'll  keep  well  ahead  on  'em  to  the  east- 
ward, when  I  shoots,  and  show  myself  like,  and  if  you 
hears  me  shout,  then  strick  it  down  like  anything  along 
the  holler.  Now,  be  off  with  you.  That  big  fellow  lies 
still  yet  awhiles.  But  if  I  shoots  afore  you  git  to  the 
gray  rock,  then  you  may  know  as  he's  bounced,  and 
come  stret  back  to  me.  I'd  like  to  git  a  good  shoot  to- 
day like,  for  I'm  afeard  it'll  rain  to-night  or  to-morrow." 

"  Let  it  rain,"  replied  Archer,  cheerily.  "  I'll  have 
that  mouse-coloured  fellow,  anyway.  I  say,  Dolph, 
keep  you  Smoker  here,  and  after  you  shoot  at  this  herd, 
point  them  to  him,  and  wave  your  hand  well  eastward 
as  he  starts,  and  ten  to  one  he'll  course  them  right 
down  to  me.     Good-bye,  old  boy!" 

And  with  the  word,  he  dropped  the  telescope  into  his 
pocket,  snatched  up  his  rifle,  donned  his  cap,  and  after 
motioning  Smoker  to  lie  quiet,  until  such  time  as  he 
should  return,  stole  away  quietly  for  a  few  yards,  till 
he  had  cleared  the  plateau  of  rocks,  and  then  dashed 
down  the  mountain  gully,  at  a  pace  widely  different  from 
the  toilsome  labour  by  which  they  had  dragged  them- 
selves to  the  upper  from  the  lower  elevation  within  half 
114 


104  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

an  hour.  Now  racing  rapidly  down  the  soft  peaty 
margin  of  the  brook,  where  it  spread  out  into  marshy 
swales ;  now  bounding  fearlessly  from  rock  to  rock, 
where  it  flowed  among  big  round  boulders  ;  now  swing- 
ing himself  by  the  pendulous  arms  of  hemlocks  and  ce- 
dars from  ledge  to  ledge,  where  it  fell  in  mimic  cataracts 
and  rapids,  over  long  rifts  of  slaty  limestone  ;  he  effected 
in  less  than  twenty  minutes  the  descent  of  the  gorge, 
to  ascend  which  it  had  cost  him  and  Dolph  Pierson 
above  two  hours  of  difficult  and  painful  labour. 

By  this  time,  he  had  reached  the  point  at  which  a 
large  fresh  spring  boils  up  from  the  bottom  of  the  bed 
of  the  brook,  and  leaving  the  old  stream  to  persist  in  a 
direct  course  to  the  lake  below,  shoots  off  at  an  acute 
angle  between  two  shoulders  of  black  dripping  rock, 
and  forms  the  ravine,  of  which  I  have  spoken  as  diago- 
nally crossing  the  green  pasturage,  or  as  it  is  generally 
termed  in  that  part  of  the  country,  "  The  burnt  feeding- 
grounds." 

At  this  spot  the  view  does  not  extend  fifty  yards  in 
any  direction  ;  for  the  new  stream  turns  a  second  angle 
before  it  strikes  the  open  ground,  and  the  whole  space 
about  the  forks  is  covered  with  so  dense  a  forest  of  pine, 
hemlock,  and  cedar,  with  a  few  tamarack  about  the 
edges  of  the  brook,  that  the  sight  is  circumscribed 
within  very  narrow  limits. 

Here  Archer  paused  for  a  moment  to  recover  his 
breath  ;  bathed  his  face  and  hands  in  the  cool  stream, 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  lOo 

and  Uieii  tunied  down  the  gorge  to  his  left,  with  a  war}' 
and  crouching  step,  A'ery  different  from  tlie  free  bound- 
ing pace  at  which  he  had  dashed  down  the  precipitous 
hill-side. 

Within  five  minutes  he  reached  the  jaws  of  the  ra- 
vine, where  the  wood  broke  off  in  sparse  masses  to  the 
right  hand  and  the  left,  and  the  little  torrent,  rushing 
through  a  scarped  natural  pass,  plunged  down  a  pitch 
of  some  forty  feet  into  the  deep  gravelly  trench  through 
which  it  seethed  and  chafed  on  its  way  to  join  the  dis- 
tant outlet. 

Here  again  Archer  paused,  and  looked  warily  abroad. 
From  his  altered  position  he  could  now  see  only  three 
of  the  separate  lots,  or  parcels,  as  they  are  more  cor- 
rectly termed,  five  of  which  he  had  noted  from  the 
summit :  The  large  solitar}^  hart,  which  had  arisen  from 
his  lair,  and  was  now  browsing  lazily  among  the  boughs 
which  had  of  late  afforded  him  their  shelter — the  great 
herd  in  the  bottom  of  the  valley  by  the  lake's  edge — and 
the  lot  composed  of  three  bucks  and  seven  does,  which 
had  moved,  though  vrithout  taking  the  alarm,  some 
hundred  yards  nearer  to  himself. 

This  was  of  course  all  in  his  favour,  since,  if  his 
taint,  or  the  smell  of  his  powder,  should  reach  them,  it 
would  find  them  embayed,  as  it  were,  in  the  angle  be 
tween  the  crags  and  the  gorge,  so  that  Dolph  would 
have  every  opportunity  of  heading  them  again,  and 
driving  them  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  ravine. 


106  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

A  minute  sufficed  him  wherein  to  observe  all  this, 
and  throwing-  his  rifle,  half-cocked  and  ready,  to  a  long 
trail,  he  stole  down  the  centre  of  the  streamlet's  bed, 
above  knee-deep  in  water,  stooping  low  and  with  every 
sense  on  the  alert,  toward  the  w^ell  marked  point,  di- 
rectly opposite  the  big  gray  boulder,  which  was  his 
gfuide  and  landmark. 

Before  he  struck  the  water-course,  however,  he  took 
his  bearings  accurately,  w^ell  knowing  that  he  could 
not  lift  his  head  above  the  verge  of  the  ravine  to  ascer- 
tain his  whereabout,  without  the  certainty  of  terrifying 
the  animal  of  which  he  was  in  pursuit  from  the  place 
at  which  he  was  likely  to  fall  an  easy  victim  to  his 
rapid  and  unerring  aim. 

This  was  soon  done,  for  a  stunted  oak  grew  on  the 
left  side  of  the  w^ater-course,  exactly  opposite  to  the 
rock,  so  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  steal  silently, 
keeping  his  head  low,  to  that  tree  ;  with  the  certainty 
of  success  should  he  reach  it  undiscovered. 

Meanw^hile,  old  Dolph,  with  Smoker  crouching  at  his 
heel,  had  again  crawded  to  the  brink,  and,  with  his  rifle 
ready  for  instant  service,  w^as  watching  with  anxious 
eye  the  movements  of  his  young  comrade. 

The  deer  which  it  was  his  peculiar  duty  to  keep 
under  his  aim  had  indeed  moved  a  little  further  to  the 
westw^ard,  but  he  cared  not  for  that;  well  knowing  that 
on  the  sound  of  Harry's  rifle  below  them,  they  w-ould 
■.ome,  if  alarmed,  directly  tow^ard  him  ;  since,  lying  to 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  107 

the  leeward  of  him,  they  could  not  discorer  him  by  the 
exquisite  acuteness  of  their  olfactory  organs,  any  more 
than  the  great  hart  could  discover  Harry,  his  lair  being 
farther  yet  to  windward. 

The  same  cause,  however,  militated  against  Harry  ; 
for  crawling,  as  he  was,  down  a  gorge  midway  between 
the  little  pack  and  the  solitary  stag,  the  same  wind 
which  favoured  him  in  regard  to  the  latter  was  directlji 
adverse  to  him  in  respect  of  the  former,  so  that  the 
operation  in  which  he  was  engaged  was  as  nice  a  one 
as  any  that  can  be  imagined  in  the  whole  range  of 
deerstalking. 

And  admirably  well  did  he  perform  it.  The  eye  of 
the  veteran  marked  him,  as  he  appeared  and  disap- 
peared, and  reappeared  again,  among  the  sinuosities 
of  the  w^ild  gorge,  never  raising  his  head  sufficiently  to 
let  the  keenest  eye  catch  a  glimpse  of  it  above  the 
grassy  banks,  or  exposing  his  person  to  the  gusts  of 
wind,  which  were  now  beginning  to  sweep  fitfully 
across  the  open  and  bleak  hill-side. 

Dolph  rubbed  his  hands  in  ecstacy,  as  he  observed 
the  care,  the  toil,  the  active  yet  deliberate  patience, 
with  which  his  pupil  made  his  way  toward  the  goal,  at 
which  he  aimed.  "Ah!  he's  a  great  'un,"  he  muttered 
\o  himself  inaudibly,  <'for  all  he's  a  Britisher.  I  nivei 
seed  his  like  nohow,  for  quickness  at  kitchin'  inything. 
I  wisht  one  of  my  boys  'ud  take  arter  him,  but  Lord ! 
they  ar'n't  half  a  beginnin'.     He'll  git  that  stag  yit,  I 


108  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

swon ;  and  not  start  them  long-yeared  sluts  o'  does 
nuther,  and  that's  what  I'd  not  a'  promised  to  a'  done, 
in  my  youngest  and  spryest  days.  He's  as  'cute  all  for 
one  as  a  Feeladelfy  lawyer,  as  true  as  a  good  hound- 
dog's  nose,  and  as  quick — as  quick  as  a  greased  bullet 
out  on  a  smart-shootin'  rifle." 

But  while  he  was  yet  speaking,  Harry  had  reached 
the  point  where  the  most  care  and  management  was 
needed,  to  escape  discovery. 

The  banks  had  for  some  time  been  gradually  be- 
coming lower  and  less  abrupt ;  and  the  brook,  instead 
of  flowing  on  a  declivity  parallel  to  the  top  of  the 
ravine,  had  found  so  hard  and  even  a  bottom  that  it 
ran  over  it  tranquilly  for  above  a  hundred  yards  in  length, 
scarcely  a  foot  below  the  level  of  the  surrounding  slope 
■ — at  the  end  of  this  hundred  yards,  there  was  a  deep 
rapid  by  which  it  burst  down  to  a  yet  lower  level,  some 
sixty  feet  beneath. 

Should  the  young  hunter  once  succeed  in  crossing 
the  hundred  level  yards  unseen,  and  conveying  himself 
to  the  lower  level,  his  success  might  be  esteemed 
certain ;  but  to  do  so  appeared  well  nigh  impossible, 
since  through  the  whole  of  that  distance  he  was  all  but 
exposed  to  the  quick  glances  of  the  does  above,  and  of 
the  hart  below  ;  while  it  seemed  almost  certain  that  the 
wind  must  strike  his  person,  and  carry  the  tell-tale  odour 
up  hill  to  the  pasturing  herd  at  the  crag's  foot. 

But  he  had  decided  on  all  his  measures  beforehand, 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  109 

and  they  weie  executed  in  an  instant.  His  heavy  rifle 
-as  secured  in  its  sling  on  his  shoulder — and  his  copper 
'ips  and  greased  patches  transferred  to  the  crown  of 
^is  skull-cap  ;  his  powder-flask  he  secured  about  his 
neck  by  the  thong,  and  held  it  up  in  his  teeth  ;  then 
turning  his  head  to  the  source  of  the  stream,  he  worked 
his  way  down  the  centre  of  the  current,  which  was 
some  eight  or  ten  inches  deep,  flat  upon  his  belly,  until 
he  reached  the  verge  of  the  fall,  down  which  he  suffered 
himself  to  slide,  retarding  the  rapidity  of  his  descent 
by  clutching  at  the  ledges  with  his  hands ;  a  perilous 
attempt  even  for  a  practised  cragsman,  but  in  his  case 
fully  successful ;  for  in  less  than  five  minutes  from  his 
entering  the  dangerous  pass,  he  stood  at  the  bottom  of 
the  cataract  unseen  and  unsuspected. 

Dolph  clapped  his  hands  in  ecstasy,  and  seeing  that 
Archer's  success  was  now  certain,  looked  to  his  own 
rifle,  ^nd  prepared  himself  for  his  share  of  the  action. 

Harry,  meanwhile,  as  he  stood  dripping  from  his  ice- 
cold  bath,  shook  himself  like  a  w^ater-dog,  drew  a  long 
breath,  imbibed  a  deep  draught  of  Ferintosh,  unslung 
and  examined  his  trusty  rifle,  and  then,  having  reached 
the  spot  opposite  to  the  gray  boulder,  as  indicated  by 
the  gnarled  oak  stump,  crawled  up  the  western  bank, 
v/ith  his  thumb  on  the  rifle-cock,  and  the  nail  of  his 
fore-finger  close  pressed  on  the  trigger-guard. 

Now  he  attained  the  brink,  crouching  low,  and  keeping 
his  whole  form  concealed  among  the  long  grass  and  low 


110  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

bushes  winch  crowned  the  abrupt  steep.  Only  his  eye 
glanced  quickly  through  the  dry  stems  and  sere  leaves. 
For  a  moment,  he  fancied  that  his  quarry  had  escaped 
him  ;  for  it  no  longer  occupied  the  station  at  which  he 
had  previously  observed  it;  but  just  as  he  was  beginning 
to  despair,  a  quick  rustle  caught  his  ear  from  the  right 
hand,  or  the  direction  opposite  to  that  in  which  he  had 
been  gazing,  and  turning  his  head  quickly,  he  saw  the 
noble  beast  standing  within  tw^enty  paces  of  him,  tossing 
his  "  beamed  frontlet  to  the  sky,"  and  snuffing  the 
atmosphere  eagerly,  as  if  he  suspected  the  presence 
of  a  foe,  though  ignorant  as  yet  of  his  exact  whereabout. 

With  the  speed  of  light  the  rifle  rose  to  Harry's  un- 
erring eye,  a  quick  flash  gleamed  through  the  brush- 
vrood,  a  small  puff  of  smoke  rose  into  the  cloudless  air, 
a  flat  quick  crack  without  an  echo  followed  it ;  and  be- 
fore the  small  puff'had  cleared  away,  so  truly  was  that 
snap-shot  aimed,  the  gallant  hart  had  fallen  lifeless, 
literally  without  a  struggle,  on  the  green  sward. 

Lowering  his  but  instantly,  Harry  poured  the  mea- 
sured pow^der  into  the  muzzle,  drove  down  the  well 
patched  ball,  applied  the  cap,  and  was  ready  for  another 
shot  in  less  time  than  it  has  taken  to  describe  the  ope- 
ration. 

The  next  moment  another  rifle  exploded  on  the  hill 
above  him  ;  but  this  time  its  sharp  crack  was  reverbe- 
rated and  repeated  in  a  hundred  ringing  echoes  from 
the  rocks  and  the  gnarled  trunks  among  w^hich  the  shot 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  Ill 

was  fired  ;  and  instantly  a  long  clear  whoop,  in  the 
well  known  stentorian  voice  of  Dolph,  announced  that 
the  upper  herd  was  in  motion. 

At  this  sound,  Harry  raised  his  head  the  least  in  the 
world ;  and  looking  back,  perceived  the  two  second-rate 
stags,  with  the  seven  does  preceding  them,  coursing  at 
all  their  speed  along  the  base  of  the  crags  due  east- 
wai'd  ;  while  along  the  summit  he  could  descry  the  tall 
gaunt  form  of  the  Dutch  hunter  bounding  forward  with 
what  seemed  almost  supernatural  agility,  with  the  dog 
Smoker  at  his  heels,  in  the  hope  of  yet  cutting  them  off 
and  forcing  them  toward  the  ravine  in  which  Harry 
stood,  half  doubtful,  half  expectant. 

^«  Well !"  Archer  soliloquized,  <«  he  has  shot  the  stag. 
That  is  two  royal  harts  in  one  day's  stalking ;  not  so 
bad,  faith !  but  we  shall  not  get  a  chance  at  the  others. 
Come,  since  there's  no  hope  left  of  them,  I'll  e'en  bleed 
this  fellow." 

And  with  the  word  his  keen  blade  was  out,  and  bu- 
ried in  the  weasand  of  the  superb  animal,  which  lay  out- 
stretched lifeless  and  motionless  on  the  greensward, 
which  it  had  trod  but  a  little  while  before,  so  full  of 
graceful  life  and  fiery  vigour. 

"  A  splendid  hart,  by  heaven !  twenty  stone,  horse- 
man's weight,  I'll  warrant  him,  after  he's  gralloched. 
He  never  stirred  after  the  ball  struck  him.  It  must  have 
pierced  the  cavity  of  the  heart.  Halloo!  What  the 
devil's  that  .^"  he  continued,  as  the  deep  bay  of  a  hound 


112  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

<lruck  Ills  ear.  "  It's  Smoker's  tongue,  for  a  million  ! 
but  surely,  surely,  he  is  not  going  to  run  musical,  and 
get  himself  shot  nowadays  by  these  cursed  Dutchmen !" 
The  cry  was  not  repeated,  but  Harry's  telescope  w^as 
out  in  a  moment ;  and  by  its  aid,  he  saw  the  fleet  deei 
hound  dashing  down  a  fissure  in  the  rocks,  and  heading 
the  two  stags,  which  he  had  cut  off  from  the  hinds,  di- 
rectly dow^n  upon  the  ravine  w^ithin  which  he  w^as  still 
standing. 

In  his  impatient  joy  at  finding  a  pass  by  w^hich  he 
could  descend  upon  his  quarry,  the  staunch  hound  had 
given  vent  to  his  pleasure  in  that  one  wild  cry,  and  was 
now  running,  as  was  his  wont,  fleet  as  the  wdnd,  and 
silent  ds  the  night,  upon  the  track  of  the  game. 

Now^  came  the  iug  of  w^ar,  the  rapid  and  exciting 

ace,  w'hich  renders  deerstalking  in  the  Scottish  High- 
lands the  most  severe  and  toilsome  of  all  field  sports. 
Not  once  in  years  does  such  an  opportunity  occur  in 
the  w^oodland  tracts  of  North  America,  w^herein  deer- 
stalking, or  still-hunting  as  it  is  appropriately  termed, 
is  almost  invariably  practised  in  forests  so  dense  that 
the  eye  can  rarely  distinguish  objects  at  above  thirty  or 
forty  yards  distant,  and  that  craft,  wariness,  and  pa- 
tience are  of  far  more  avail  than  the  eagle  eye,  the  un- 
failing breath,  and  the  iron  sinew  of  the  "mountaineer. 
Nor  is  it  probable  that  standing,  as  Harry  Archer 
stood,  even  as  the  two  stately  harts  came  bounding 

lown  the  slope,  with  the  fleet  hound  hard  upon  their 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  113 

haunches,  right  toward  the  lower  enJ  of  the  ravine,  one 
man  in  fifty,  who  had  not  been  used  to  Scottish  deer- 
stalking, would  have  so  much  as  thought  of  being  able 
to  obtain  a  shot. 

But  as  the  fleet  and  graceful  animals  came  dashing 
down  the  hill,  clearing  the  scattered  bushes  and  blocks 
of  rifted  stone,  wdiich  were  strewn  here  and  there  on 
their  course,  with  long  and  easy  bounds,  Harry  almost 
instinctively  perceived  that  they  had  not  as  yet  scented 
him  on  the  wind,  though  they  were  well  to  leeward  of 
him,  owing  to  his  position  in  the  deep  channel  of  the 
stream. 

At  about  a  mile's  distance  below  him  to  the  eastward, 
the  gorge  of  the  stream  melted  away  into  the  level  plain 
on  the  border  of  the  lakelet ;  and  it  was  at  this  point 
evidently  that  the  deer  intended  to  cross  the  w^ater. 

If  therefore  by  dint  of  his  utmost  speed  Harry  could 
reach  that  point,  ere  they  should  cross  it,  he  was  sure 
of  at  least  one  shot.  And  instantly,  as  he  noted  the 
direction  of  their  course,  he  dashed,  reckless  of  all 
impediment,  at  the  top  of  his  pace  down  the  gaily. 

There  was  no  space  of  level  ground  on  either  side 
the  brook ;  for  wherever  it  had  not  cut  its  way  sheer 
through  the  solid  rock,  the  gravelly  or  peaty  banks, 
washed  by  the  rains  of  spring  and  autumn,  fell  steep 
and  sheer  from  the  plain  above  to  the  w^ater's  level. 

The  channel  of  the  stream  was  his  course,  therefore. 


114  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

and  a  right  difficult  course  for  such  a  headlong  race  it 
was. 

Yet  he  sped  fearlessly  and  fleetly  onward ;  he  could 
not  of  course  now  see  anything  of  the  chase  he  was 
pursuing  ;  but  he  needed  not  the  aid  of  the  eye  to  know 
that  they  would  hold  their  course  straight  and  unaltered 
to  their  point. 

Here  he  leaped  with  long  active  bounds  from  block 
to  block  of  granite,  as  they  peered  with  their  slippery 
white  heads  above  the  chafing  current;  here  he  splashed 
recklessly  through  the  swift  rippling  shallows,  seeing 
the  swift  brook-trout  dart  through  the  eddies  from  before 
his  feet;  there,  again,  he  floundered  almost  waist-defp 
in  the  dark  pools,  where  it  flowed  through  peat-bo[^s> 
and  tussocks,  springing  the  English  snipe  with  its  shuip 
shrill  cry,  and  the  mallard  with  its  hoarse  note  of  alarm, 
from  the  rushes  by  the  margin. 

Onward  he  sped,  still  onward,  long-breathed,  and 
unwearied  ;  and  ever  and  anon,  he  learned  by  the  long 
cheery  huzzas  of  the  old  hunter  on  the  hill,  that  he  w^as 
holding  his  own  at  least,  if  not  gaining  on  the  chase. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  lines  on  which  Archer 
and  the  two  harts  were  running,  lay  nearly  at  right 
angles  to  each  other ;  Harry  having  about  one  mile  to 
run,  and  the  deer  about  twice  that  distance,  before 
their  courses  should  intersect  one  another. 

Harry  had  now  cleared  above  two-thirds  of  the  dis- 
tance, and  without  slackening  his  pace  had  pitched  up 


THR    DEERSTALKERS.  115 

his  rifle  into  the  hollow  of  his  left  hand,  and  was  exa- 
mining the  caps  as  he  ran,  to  see  whether  they  had 
been  damaged  by  the  water  dashed  up  from  his  feet  in 
his  headlong  career. 

The  banks  grew^  gradually  lower,  and  the  stream, 
spreading  over  a  wilder  bed  and  running  on  a  bright 
gravel  bottom,  afforded  him  a  better  foothold  than  he 
had  hitherto  encountered. 

At  this  moment  a  long  piercing  yell  from  Dolph,  w^ho 
from  his  station  on  the  crags  could  see  everything  that 
was  passing,  gave  him  notice  that  the  crisis  was  at  hand. 

An  instant  more,  and  before  he  had  even  checked 
his  pace,  scarce  twenty  feet  apart,  with  their  proud 
heads  aloft,  their  wild  eyes  glancing  feaifully  around 
them,  and  their  nostrils  distended  to  the  utmost,  the 
two  harts  dashed  across  the  gorge. 

It  almost  seemed  that  they  w^ere  no  sooner  in  iight 
than  they  disappeared  ;  so  rapid  was  their  transit,  and 
so  completely  did  the  bold  bank  conceal  them,  afttr 
they  had  once  cleared  the  channel  of  the  stream. 

But  sw^ift  as  was  their  transit,  swifter  yet  w^as  the 
motion  of  hand  and  eye,  which  brought  the  ponderous 
rifle  truly  and  surely  to  the  runner's  shoulder,  and  dis- 
charged both  barrels,  in  such  quick  succession  that  the 
two  reports  were  almost  blended  into  a  single  sound. 

No  eye  of  man,  however  near  or  quick-sighted,  could 
have  noted  that  either  of  the  balls  had  taken  effect ; 
but  the  deerstalker  had  another  sense  by  which  he  w^as 


116  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

assured  that  neither  of  his  messengers  had  failed  to  per- 
form its  errand.  For  a  dull  fiat  thud  met  his  ear  almost 
simultaneously  with  each  discharge,  which  he  recog- 
nised at  once  as  the  sound  of  the  ball  plunging  into  its 
living  target. 

Before  he  had  lowered  the  weapon  from  his  eye, 
Smoker  had  swept  across  the  stream  at  one  long  swing- 
ing leap,  and  was  away  on  the  traces  of  the  quarry, 
still  mute,  although  the  slaver  on  his  lip,  the  glare  in 
his  fierce  eye,  and  the  wiry  bristles  erect  on  his  back 
and  shoulders,  proved  clearly  how  earnest  and  how 
fiery  was  his  excitement. 

Scarce  was  he  out  of  sight  over  the  ridge,  before  his 
master  scrambled  up  out  of  the  gorge,  and,  scaling  the 
right-hand  bank,  found  one  of  tlie  two  harts  prostrate 
and  struggling  in  the  death  agony,  which  his  sharp 
knife  soon  mercifully  terminated  ;  while  he  might  see 
the  other,  now  some  three  hundred  yards  away,  striving, 
with  desperate  but  useless  efforts,  to  escape  the  pursuit 
of  the  stanch  deer-hound.  Casting  down  his  unloaded 
rifle  by  the  side  of  the  slain  hart,  and  fixing  the  spot  in 
his  memory  by  a  marking  glance,  he  now  bounded  on- 
ward, over  the  open,  to  the  aid  of  the  gallant  hound ; 
who,  he  perceived,  would  ere  long  overtake  the  wounded 
stag,  and  would  in  all  probability  receive  some  injury, 
should  he  attack  it  single-handed. 

Fast  as  he  ran,  however,  exerting  himself  till  every 
•sinew  in  his  frame  appeared  to  crack,  and  till  the  sweat 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  117 

rolled  in  big  drops  down  liis  face,  despite  the  coldness 

of  the  weather,  his  speed  was  put  forth  to  no  purpose. 

For,  wearied  soon  by  its  gigantic  efforts,  and  weakened 

by  the  loss  of  blood  wliich  flowed  freely  from  the  large 

wound  made  by  the  ounce-ball  of  Harry's  rifle,  the  hart 

turned  to  bay. 

But  it  was  all  too  late,  for,  as  he  turned,  the  fierce  dog 
« 
sprang,  fastened  his  sharp  white  tusks  into  his  gullet, 

and  bore  him  to  the  ground  in  a  moment,   before  he 

had  time  to  strike  with  his  cloven  hoofs,  or  aim  a  thrust 

with  his  formidable  brow- antlers. 

Then  followed  a  desperate  and  confused  struggle. 
The  hart,  strong  in  its  last  extremity,  rose  to  its  knees 
again ;  tossing  its  antlered  head  frantically  in  fruitless 
endeavours  to  break  the  hold  of  its  cruel  enemy,  bleat- 
ing and  braying  piteously  the  while,  with  the  big  tears 
rolling  down  its  hairy  cheeks,  and  the  blood  and  foam 
issuing  from  its  distended  jaws. 

For  a  second's  space,  it  seemed  that  the  stag  had 
the  advantage  ;  but  it  was  for  a  second  only.  Again, 
with  a  sharp  angry  growl,  the  dog  tore  him  down  ;  and 
ere  he  could  struggle  up  again,  the  man  was  added  to 
the  strife,  with  all  his  pitiful  and  tender  feelings  ab- 
sorbed for  the  time  in  the  wild  fury  of  pursuit,  and  the 
fierce  joy  of  capture. 

His  foot  was  on  its  neck,  his  knife  in  its  gullet— one 
sharp  gasp,  one  long  heaving  shudder,  and  the  bright 
eye  glazed,  and  the  wide  nostril  collapsed  ;  and  for  the 


118  THE     DEKRSTALKERS. 

fourth  time,  since  the  dawn  of  that  sweet  autumnal 
morning,  had  Harry  Archer,  as  tender-hearted  and  as 
kindly-souled  a  man  as  ever  trod  on  greensw'ard,  taken 
that  life,  which  but  One  can  bestow',  unpitying  and 
relentless. 

And  now,  weak  himself  with  the  violence  of  his  ex- 
ertions, and  overcome  with  toil,  he  waved  his  cap  in 
the  air  above  his  head,  and  sent  forth  his  note  of  tri- 
umph in  a  long-drawn  "  Who- whoop — "  to  which  a 
cheery  shout  replied  from  the  lips  of  Pierson,  who  was 
now  running  toward  him,  midway  betw^een  the  cliffs 
and  the  streamlet. 

But  ere  the  shout  had  well  died  from  his  tongue, 
Harry  staggered  and  sank  down  beside  the  slaughtered 
game,  half  fainting  and  almost  insensible. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  GRALLOCHING. 

The  raven  sat  nigh,  with  her  sullen  croak, 
Waiting  her  bone  when  the  deer  was  broke. 

Two  minutes  had  not  passed  between  Archer's  sink- 
ing to  the  ground  exhausted,  and  Pierson's  arrival  on 
the  scene  of  action.  For,  seeing  his  young'companion 
fall,  as  it  seemed  to  him,  so  suddenly,  he  imagined  that 
he  had  received  some  hurt  from  the  antlers  of  the 
wounded  stag,  in  its  death-struggle,  and  in  consequence 
redoubled  his"  pace  down  the  uneven  slope,  throwing 
away  his  rifle  in  order  to  reach  the  place  more  speedily. 

During  the  few  seconds  that  Harry's   insensibility 

lasted,  Smoker  had  applied  himself  assiduously,  in  the 

height   of  his  dog- affection,  to   licking  the  face  and 

hands  of  his  master,  over  and  over  again,  until  he  had 

communicated  to  them  no  small  quantity  of  the  blood 

which  had  flowed  from  the  hart's  death-wound,  and 

which  he  had  been  lapping  greedily.     So,  that  when 

Pierson  came  up,  he  presented  a  singularly  ghastly  and 

almost  appalling  spectacle;  for,  between  fatigue,  loss 
115  na 


120  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

of  breath,  and  excitement,  his  face  was  ashy  pale,  and 
the  streaks  of  frothy  arterial  blood  which  crossed  it  in 
many  places,  gave  it  exactly  the  resemblance  of  the 
countenance  of  one  violently  slain. 

A  loud  exclamation  of  dismay  and  grief  burst  from 
the  lips  of  the  rude  forester,  as  he  knelt  down  by 
Harry's  side,  raised  his  head  upon  his  knee,  and  gazed 
wistfully  into  his  face. 

At  this  moment,  however,  the  brief  fit  of  exhaustion 
and  faintness  passed  away  ;  and,  as  Archer's  eyes  re- 
opened and  fell  full  upon  the  hard  angular  features  of 
the  Dutch  hunter,  grotesquely  distorted  from  the  effects 
of  sorrow  and  apprehension,  he  burst  at  once  into  a  loud 
hearty  laugh,  which  instantly  reassured  his  friend,  and 
satisfied  him  that  he  was  not  seriously  endangered. 

<' That's  right;  that's  right,  Mr.  Aircher!"  cried  the 
good  fellow  cheerfully,  though  a  big  tear,  the  offspring 
of  strangely  mingled  feelings,  was  rolling  down  his 
dry  withered  cheek — <■<■  laugh  at  the  old  fool  e'en  as  much 
as  you  will ;  right  glad  I  am  to  hear  you  laugh  inyhow. 
I  niver  thought  to  hear  you  laugb  agin,  I  didn't." 

t' Why,  what  the  deuce  ails  you,  Dolph.^"  eried 
Harry,  springing  to  his  feet,  as  brisk  as  ever;  "  or  what 
should  ail  me,  that  I  should  never  laugh  again  ?  The 
devil's  in  it,  if,  after  running  two  miles  over  such  ground 
as  I  have  just  run,  and  at  such  a  pace  too,  a  fellow 
may  not  lie  down  on  the  grass  and  rest  himself.     I  was 


-^HE    DEERSTALKERS.  121 

dead  blown,  old  fellow,  nothing  more.     A  good  pull  at 
the  Ferintosh  will  bring  me  about  in  a  jiffy." 

"  But  whar's  all  that  'ere  blood  corned  from,  say  ^" 

"Blood!  what  blood?  man-alive,  I  believe  you're 
drunk  or  dreaming!" 

"  On  your  face,  Mister  Aircher.  Arn't  it  your  blood  ? 
well,  I  thought  it  was,  for  sartin !" 

"I  do  not  know,"  said  Archer.  "No,  it's  not  my 
ulood,  I'm  not  hurt;"  and  as  he  spoke  he  raised  his 
handkerchief  to  his  face,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  little 
water  from  the  brook  soon  washed  aw^v  the  filthy  wit- 
ness from  his  face.  Then  seeing  Smoker,  who,  relieved 
from  all  anxiety  about  his  master,  had  buried  his  sharp 
muzzle  in  the  wide  death-wound  of  the  buck — "  There 
is  the  culprit,"  he  added  ;  "  poor  devil,  I  suppose  he 
fell  to  licking  my  face,  when  he  saw  me  lie  down.'* 

"  Well,  yes,  he  was  a  kind  o'  nuzzlin'  at  you,  when  I 
seed  him,  and  I'm  an  old  fool,  inyhow,  not  to  have 
thought  of  that  afore.  But  do  you  call  that  lyin'  down } 
It  looked  a  darned  sight  liker  fallin'." 

«  Well,  well,  never  mind  which  it  was,  Dolph.  All's 
right  now ;  so  don't  say  a  word  about  it,  when  those 
chaps  come  up  ;  Fat  Tom  would  crow^  for  a  whole 
month,  if  he  got  hold  of  such  a  story  on  me." 

"  Niver  a  word,  I,"  replied  the  hunter.  "  But  come, 
it's  past  now,  and  w^e've  got  e'enamost  more  nor  we 
we  can  do,  to  git  these  four  bucks  broken  and  hung  up, 


122  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

SO  as  we  can  jine  old  Tom  and  that  'ere  fancy  chap 
down  at  the  outlet." 

<'  Well,  let's  be  doing,"  answered  Harry;  ''  but  first 
run  to  the  brook,  Dolph,  won't  you  .^  and  fetch  us  up 
your  big  tin-cup  full  of  water.  For  all  the  water's  so 
cold,  I  want  a  long  drink,  I  tell  you." 

"Here  'tis,"  replied  old  Dolph,  as  quick  as  light. 
"  I've  drinkt  out  on't,  myself  But  I  guess  you  won't 
stand  for  that." 

"  Not  I, indeed,"  said  Harry, bolting  the  liquor.  ''Now 
I'm  your  man  for  anything — what's  to  be  done  first.'"' 

"  Fust!  why  fust  we've  jest  got  to  go  and  find  our 
rifles,  and  load  up.     Where's  yourn.'"' 

"  By  the  other  hart,  on  the  brook's  edge.  I  threw  it 
down  that  I  might  help  Smoker  with  this  fellow,  who 
would,  I  thought,  prove  too  tough  a  match  for  him. 
Where's  yours?" 

'« Somew^heres  on  yan  hill- side  ;  I  thro  wed  it  down 
when  I  seed  you  fall.  I  dun'  know  w^heres — but  I  can 
find  it,  inyhow,  by  taking  the  back  track." 

"  Look  here,  then,  let  us  gralloch  this  hart  first,  and 
hang  him  somewhere.  W^e'll  have  to  carry  him  a  hun- 
dred yards,  to  that  tree  ;  and  as  we  have  got  four  to 
look  after,  we  must  lose  no  time,  and  take  no  steps 
twice  over.  I'll  break  him  up,"  he  added,  tucking  up 
his  sleeves  and  drawing  his  long  knife.  "  Do  you  run 
and 'cut  a  ten-foot  pole,  stout  enough  to  carry  him,  in 
the  coppice  yonder." 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  123 

No  sooner  said  than  done;  and  before  Harry  had 
cleared  the  carcass  of  the  offal,  on  which  Master  Smo- 
ker blew  himself  out  till  he  could  hardly  stir,  Dolph 
returned  bearing  a  young  straight  dog-wood  tree,  of 
some  three  inches  diameter  at  the  but,  by  ten  or  twelve 
feet  in  length,  which  he  had  hewn  down,  and  shaped 
rudely  w^ith  his  keen  tomahawk. 

"  That's  your  sort,  Dolph!"  cried  the  young  English- 
man, who  had  by  this  time  interlinked  the  legs  of  the 
hart  through  the  perforated  sinews,  as  cooks  will  do 
those  of  a  partridge  before  roasting.  "  Shove  it  through 
here.  Put 'your  shoulder  to  that  end,  and  I'll  hoist  this. 
Oh-he-ave!" 

And,  with  the  word,  they  raised  the  noble  buck,  pen- 
dent from  the  pole,  back  and  head  downward,  and 
walked  away  cheerily  under  the  heavy  load,  to  the  spot 
where  the  other  had  fallen  close  to  the  ravine's  edge. 
Here  Archer's  rifle  was  recovered,  and  duly  loaded ; 
and  the  operation  of  breaking,  or  butchering,  having 
been  performed  on  that  hart  likewise.  Hairy  mounted 
to  the  fork  of  a  young  hickory  which  grew  hard  by,  and, 
with  Pierson's  assistance,  hoisted  one  up  on  either  side 
tlie  stem,  and  left  them  hanging  there,  a  noble  trophy, 
the  one  with  six  points,  the  other  with  seven,  to  its 
widespread  and  formidable  antlers. 

Thence  they  had  a  long  and  tedious  walk  up  hill  to 
the  spot  where  Dolph  had  cast  down  his  rifle,  and  a 
weary  search  ere  they  found  it.     A  search  rewarded 


124  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

only  by  success  at  last,  in  consequence  of  the  extreme 
sagacity  of  the  Dutch  hunter,  and  the  houndlike  instinct- 
ive skill  with  which  he  tracked  the  light  prints,  invisi- 
ble to  any  eye  less  practised  than  his  own,  of  his  own 
bounding  footsteps  on  the  dry  grass,  and  among  the 
leafless  bushes. 

Archer,  who  had  attained  not  a  little  of  that  Indian 
art  of  following  the  trail,  had  long  been  at  fault  utterly; 
and,  quite  unable  to  discover  any  sign  where  Dolph 
asserted  positively  that  he  could  see  clearly  his  whole 
footstep,  heel  and  toe,  had  given  up  all  hope  of  finding 
the  w^eapon. 

This  task  at  last  accomplished,  and  the  unerring 
piece  loaded  with  the  minute  and  patient  exactness 
which  is  so  perfectly  characteristic  of  the  true  back- 
woodsman, the  hardy  pair  set  forth  again ;  and  after 
scrambling  up  the  tangled  and  broken  slopes  of  the  burnt 
pasturage  for  something  better  than  half  an  hour,  reached 
the  foot  of  the  cliffs  at  about  half  a  mile's  distance  from 
the  mouth  of  the  ravine  through  which  Harry  had  de- 
scended. Here  the  same  ceremony  was  performed  on 
Dolph's  stag  which  they  had  already  completed  on  the 
others,  and  when  he  had  been  drawn  up  by  the  heels  to 
a  dwarf  oak,  which  shot  out  of  the  crag's  face,  nothing 
remained  for  them  to  do,  but  to  descend  leisurely  by 
the  brook's  edge  to  the  scathed  tree,  at  the  foot  of 
which  lay  the  great  mouse-coloured  hart,  which  had 
rewarded  Archer's  toilsome  descent  of  the  gully. 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  120 

<' It's  liim,  by  the  Etarnal!"  cried  old  Dolph,  the 
moment  his  eye  fell  on  the  carcass  of  the  monstrous 
animal.  "  It's  him,  iVircher,  else  I'll  niver  pull  a  trig- 
ger arter  this  day !  Give  us  your  hand,  boy ;  you've 
done  that  this  day,  as  '11  be  talked  on  hereaways,  arter 
we're  both  cold  and  under  the  green  sod.  Yes,  yes, 
it's  him,  sartin.  There's  the  crook  horn,  and  there's 
the  white  spot  on  his  hither  side,  whar'  poor  Jim  Buck- 
ley's bullet  went  clar  through  him,  as  I've  heern  say  by 
them  that  was  alivin'  them  days,  these  {\  urscore  year 
agone,  and  better.  And  they  do  tell  as  he  was  therij 
w^hat  you  calls  a  hart  royal,  with  a  full  head  I  means. 
There's  not  a  hunter  in  the  range,  as  his  father  and  his 
grand'ther  hasn't  run  this  fellow,  as  lies  here  now 
so  quiet,  with  hounds,  and  on  snow-shoes,  in  light 
snows  and  on  deep  crusts  fifty  times,  and  niver  got 
within  rifle  range,  'ceptin  Jim  Buckley,  and  he  lied  in 
wait  for  him  like,  over  ten  nights  in  May,  up  in  the 
crotch  of  a  big  tree,  whar'  he  come  bellin'  for  his  hinds, 
nigh  whares  he'd  seen  the  frayin'  of  his  horns  like,  on 
the  ragged  stems,  and  so  he  shot  him  through  and 
through,  with  an  ounce-bullet  from  an  old-fashioned 
yager,  as  was  tuk  from  them  Hoosian  chaps  at  Trenton 
in  the  Jarseys  —  but  Lord  a'  massy,  Mr.  Aircher,  he 
stopped  no  mores  for  that  ounce- bullet,  than  you'd  stop 
for  a  darned  musquito  bite  when  the  hounds  w^as  makin' 
music  in  a  run  way.  He  rared  right  stret  an  eend,  and 
shuck  himself,  and  looked  kind  a  savage  like  at  Jim, 


126  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

and  went  off  through  the  v^'oods  jest  the  same  as  though 
nauthen  ailed  him — and  nauthen  did  ail  him,  likely." 
Here  the  old  hunter  paused,  looked  about  him  with  a 
furtive  and  uneasy  eye,  and  then  added  in  a  low  voice, 
as  if  he  were  half  ashamed  of  the  thoughts  to  which 
he  was  about  to  give  utterance,  or  fearful  of  uttering 
them.  "  But  su'thin  ailed  Jim  Buckley  arterward,  they 
doos  say,  Mr.  Aircher,  for  that  same  day  one  year  arter 
a  rifle  went  off  of  itself  like  in  his  partner's  hand,  and 
the  ball  struck  him  nigh  the  blade-bone  of  his  right 
shoulder,  and  quartered  through  him,  and  corned  out  jest 
in  his  flank  under  the  lowest  rib — ^jest  the  identical  shot 
as  he  gave  the  stag — but  Jim  was  a  dead  man  in  five 
minutes ;  and  the  ball,  it  warn't  nauthen  but  a  little 
triflin'  fawty  to  the  pound  slug.  I'm  kinder  sorry  arter 
all  that  you  shot  him ;  they  doos  tell  'at  no  one  niver 
had  no  luck  arterward  that  had  so  much  as  chased  him, 
let  alone  shot  him." 

"Ha!  ha!  ha!"  shouted  Archer  merrily — «' Why, 
Dolph,  old  lad,  are  you  beside  yourself  this  fine  morning  | 
Why,  to  my  certain  knowledge,  you  have  hunted  him 
with  me  three  several  times  yourself,  and  shot  at  him 
once,  and  I  never  heard  yet  of  any  very  bad  luck  that 
had  befallen  you — " 

"  Nor  of  none  very  good,  nuther,  I'm  athinkin' ;" 
interpolated  Dolph,  with  an  incredulous  shake  of  the 
aead.    But  Harry  proceeded  as  if  he  had  not  heard  him, 

tf  And  for  the  rest,  Dolph,  you  may  be  perfectly  easy 


THE    DKERSTALKERS.  127 

for  this  time,  I  think.  For  you  had  certainly  no  hand 
in  this  job  from  tlie  beginning  to  the  end.  It  was  I, 
who  viewed  him  from  the  crags  with  my  naked  eye, 
when  you  overlooked  him  ;  it  was  I  who  recognised 
him  for  the  old  crookhorn,  with  my  glass ;  I  who 
stalked,  I  who  shot,  I  who  bled  him;  and  I,  Dolph, 
who  will  bear  the  brunt  right  merrily  of  anything  tha^ 
is  like  to  befall  me  in  consequence.  Come,  man  alive, 
don't  look  so  wo-begone  after  the  best  morning's  work 
that  has  been  done  on  the  burnt  pasture,  these  ten 
years  or  better." 

"  These  twinty  year,  I  guess.  But  I  ar'n't  downcast 
none,  nor  I  don't  believe  the  one-half  of  their  parleyin'. 
But  you  keeps  a  askin'  me  iyery  now  and  then  to  tell 
you  the  old  talk  of  our  wood-lads  hereaways,  and  then 
when  I  doos,  you  laughs  at  me." 

*<  Not  I!  not  I!"  said  Archer,  who  had  been  busy 
cleaning  the  carcass,  while  Dolph  was  ruminating  on 
the  old-time  superstition — "  By  the  Lord  Harry  !  four 
inches  of  clear  fat  on  the  brisket !"  he  ejaculated  on  a 
sudden,  f'  I  will  dissect  a  dozen  or  so  of  these  short 
ribs,  Dolph,  and  w^ith  a  bit  of  salt  and  pepper  out  of 
my  pouch,  we  will  make  a  broil  down  by  the  lake-shore, 
yonder,  and  with  the  hard  biscuit  and  cold  pork  and 
onions,  and  the  drop  of  Ferintosh,  we  will  have  a  feast 
fit  for  kings,  by  the  time  those  fellows  come  along.  Fd 
bet  a  trifle  they  haven't  beat  us  yet  awhile." 

"  There  ar'n't  no  two  men  on  this  airth  as  kin,"  re- 


128  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

plied  the  old  hunter,  looking  with  an  admiring  eye  at 
his  companion.  <'  For  I  will  say  that  afore  your  face, 
as  I've  said  many's  the  time  ahind  your  back,  yourn 
is  the  quickest  eye,  the  steadiest  hand,  the  coolest 
heart,  and  the  fastest  foot,  I  iver  see  on  hill  or  in  val- 
ley. Mine  ar'n't  so  quick,  or  sure,  or  cool,  by  many 
a  sight,  nowadays.  I  dun'  know  as  they  iver  was  ;  and 
for  fastness,  why  when  I  was  a  boy,  you'd  have  outrun 
me  jest  as  I  kin  a  mud-turkle ;  and  then  for  knowin'  sign 
and  followin'  trail,  and  specially  for  puttin'  things  toge- 
ther, and  seein'  what  the  hull  sum  of  them  tells — 
though  you  was  green  as  grass,  and  helpless  as  a  year- 
old  babby  when  I  seed  you  fust — there's  not  a  many 
as  kin  beat  you  hereaways,  nor  in  the  far  west  nuther. 
Now,  if  I'd  bin  and  done  a  wrong  thing  inyhow,  and 
kivered  it  up  close  so's  no  one  should  find  it  out  who 
dun  it,  and  then  med  tracks,  I'd  rather  fifty  times  have 
fifty  Feeladelfy  lawyers,  and  half  the  woodmen  in  the 
range  arter  my  heels,  as  jest  you  onaccompanied  like." 

"Hush!  hush!  Dolph,  you'll  put  me  to  the  blush, 
old  boy  ;  whatever  little  I  may  know  of  the  woods  and 
woodcraft,  I  owe  it  all  to  you." 

"There  ain't  nothin',  Aircher,  in  hearin'  the  truth, 
or  in  tellin'  the  truth,  right  out,  up  and  down,  as  should 
make  no  gal  blush,  let  alone  no  man.  And  it's  truth 
that  I  tell  you.  Hallo !  what's  that—  .?"  as  the  distant 
crack  of  a  rifle  came  up  the  light  air  to  their  ears,  from 
the  lake-shore. 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  129 

Both  turned  their  eyes  instantly  toward  the  point 
whence  the  sound  came,  and  a  thin  wreath  of  bluish 
smoke  was  seen  to  curl  lazily  above  the  underwood  and 
to  melt  into  the  transparent  skies.  A  moment  afterward, 
at  about  two  hundred  paces'  distance  from  the  spot 
where  the  smoke  was  disappearing,  a  noble  buck  darted 
from  the  covert  at  full  speed,  and  plunging  into  the 
lake,  oared  himself  with  his  fleet  limbs  gallantly  across 
the  limpid  sheet,  his  graceful  neck  and  antlered  crest 
showing  like  the  prow  and  figure-head  of  some  stately 
galley,  with  the  blue  water  rippling  before  the  smooth 
velocity  of  his  motion. 

A  minute  afterward,  a  man  showed  himself,  rifle  in 
hand,  examining  the  bushes  and  the  grass  under  foot, 
in  search  of  blood  or  hair,  or  the  track  of  the  bullet, 
thereby  to  judge  whether  his  shot  had  been  eflfective. 

"  Ay !  ay  !"  said  Archer,  laughing,  as  he  recognised 
the  gay  garb  of  his  friend  by  aid  of  his  telescope,  "  you 
may  look  there  these  ten  years,  Master  Frank,  and 
find  no  sign.     That  was  a  clear  niiss ;  hey,  Dolph?" 

"  In  course  it  was.  Who  iver  see  a  man  in  sicli 
fancy  garments  as  them  are,  do  anything  but  miss  ?" 

"  He  does  not  always  miss,  I  can  tell  you,  by  a  lon<'- 
w^ay,  Dolph,"  said  Harry.  «'  But  come,  let's  be 
tramping.  They  are  nigher  to  our  meeting-place  than 
we  arc." 

<'  But  we'll  do  the  distance  in  jest  half  the  time." 
*'  T/.ue.     But  let's  do  it  easy." 


CHAPTER  VIT. 

THE  TRYSTING-TREE.        *• 

Hail,  cool,  refreshing  shade  !  abode  most  dear 
To  the  sun- wearied  traveller,  wandering  near. 

Within  a  gunshot,  or  less,  of  the  lake's  brink,  at  a 
point  where  the  open  ground  meets  the  water  without 
any  intervening  fringe  of  wood  or  coppice,  there  stands 
a  gigantic  pin  oak,  alone  and  older  far  than  any  of  its 
neighbours,  and  so  immense  in  the  spread  of  its 
branches  that  it  is  commonly  said  by  the  foresters  and 
woodmen  of  that  region  to  overshadow  more  than  an 
acre  of  land.  Its  limbs  do  not,  however,  sweep  so  low 
to  earthward  as  to  prevent  the  grovvi:h  of  a  soft  and 
mossy  greensward  even  to  its  roots,  or  to  exclude  en- 
tirely the  play  of  the  sunbeams,  or  the  currents  of  air 
which  are  ever  vocal  among  its  branches. 

To  this  delightful  canopy  it  was,  that  Harry  Archer 
and  his  comrade  now  bent  their  way,  down  the  long 
declivity  of  the  burnt  pasture,  taking  it  easy  indeed,  as 
*-he  former  had  proposed  to  do,  but  still  clearing  the 

130 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  131 

g;rourjd  at  a  very  respectable  rate,  favoured  as  they  were 
by  the  descending  surface. 

The  consequence  was  that  they  reached  it,  as  Pierson 
had  predicted,  long  enough  before  Frank  Forester  and 
Fat  Tom  had  made  their  appearance  ;  and  had  already 
set  about  their  culinary  preparations,  while  the  jolly 
Bonifade,  sorely  overdone  and  discomfited,  was  plung- 
ing and  crashing  through  the  thickets  of  wild  raspberry 
and  cat-briars,  and  stumbling  over  the  burnt  logs,  bark- 
ing his  shins,  and  stubbing  his  toes  at  every  step, 
among  oaths,  imprecations,  and  obscenities  which 
might  have  been  heard  at  half  a  mile's  distance. 

i'- 1  swon!"  said  Pierson  suddenly,  stopping  short  in 
the  act  of  transfixing  a  fat  venison  collop  with  a  thin 
stick  of  red  cedar,  w^hich  was  destined  to  supply  the 
place  of  a  spit,  as  an  appalling  burst  of  execrations  came 
down  the  wind  from  the  eastward,  <'  that  'ere  Tom 
Draw's  a  buster  inyhow!  I'd  as  lieve  take  a  steam 
ingyne  a  still-huntin'  wdth  me  as  that  chap.  Why, 
Lord  a"'massy,  he'd  skear  ivery  buck  'twixt  here  and 
the  beech- woods  with  his  cursin'." 

<'  You  don't  catch  him  cursing,  as  you  call  it.  Master 
Dolph,"  replied  Harry  coolly,  exposing  the  third  steak 
he  had  spitted  to  the  fire,  which  was  beginning  to  burn 
up  brisk  and  clear,  '«  when  there's  the  least  likelihood 
of  getting  a  shot.  The  old  man  knows,  as  well  as  you 
do,  that  we  are  down  here  on  the  shore,  and  that  we 
have  swept  the  whole  of  the  burnt  pasture  ahead." 


li^2  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

5'  'Taint  no  Ava3\s,  nohow,"  muttered  Dolph,  ''  to  be 
amakin'  sich  a  racket  in  the  woods;  I'm  eenamost 
ashamed  to  be  seen  companyin'  with  sich  an  awkerd 
squad." 

"  Tush  !  tush  !  shut  up,  we  have  done  well  enoup^h, 
1  should  think,  to  satisfy  you  for  one  day.  Look  to  that 
steak,  too ;  it  wants  turning,  if  I'm  not  mistaken. 
You've  let  it  burn,  Dolph,  while  you  have  been  scolding 
about  nothing." 

"Hilloah!  hilloah  !"  at  this  moment,  there  arose  a 
clear  cheery  halloo  from  the  wood,  at  some  hundred 
yards'  distance,  through  which  the  new  comers  were 
advancing. 

'<■  Who-whoop  !"  responded  Archer  ;  and  thereupon 
a  merry  laugh  succeeded,  and  a  loud  exclamation  in 
Frank  Forester's  blithest  tones;  «' Come,  come  on, 
you  old  villain !  I  told  you  I'd  back  my  nose  against 
your  eyes  and  ears,  any  day.  Don't  I  smell  the  fat  of 
venison  dripping  down  on  the  brown  crisp  biscuits  ? 
Come  along,  do!" 

"  Nose — I'll  be  sw^orn  you  do ;  nose  out  anything  to 
eat,  or  to  drink  either,  you  little  gormandizin'  cuss,  a 
mile  off  and  better — but  I'll  fix  you,  boy,  I'll  fix  you 
tori2:hts." 

And  therewith,  bursting  through  the  green  boughs, 
the  two  worthies  made  their  appearance,  neither  of 
them,  to  tell  truth,  looking  a  great  deal  the  better  or 
the  livelier  for  their  tramp  ;  for  Forester's  gay  verdai-t 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  133 

toggery  was  sorely  besmirched,  and  the  fine  broadcloth 
of  his  jacket  torn  into  ribbons  by  the  thoins  and  jagged 
branches  ;  while  poor  Tom,  sweating  beneath  his  load 
of  flesh,  literally  "  larded  the  lean  earth,''  as  he  shook 
it  with  his  ponderous  strides,  and  blew,  as  Forester 
said,  who  in  spite  of  all  his  disasters  was  in  tip-top 
spirits,  like  a  grampus  in  shoal  water. 

''How  be  you,  boys  ?"  exclaimed  the  fat  man,  as 
soon  as  he  could  recover  breath  enough  to  speak. 
"  Which  on  you'll  do  a  good  thing  jest  for  oncet  like, 
and  give  a  chap  a  drop  o'  suthin'  ?  That  little  cuss 
has  bin  and  drinkt  up  the  hull  of  his  own  liquor,  and 
then  hooked  mine  and  drinkt  it  dry.  He  got  so  darned 
drunk,  Archer,  now  I  tell  you,  that  he  missed  the  etar- 
nal  biggest,  fattest,  nicest,  first-rate,  six-year  old  buck, 
in  the  brush  thereaways,  not  ten  yards  ofi"  on  him,  the 
most  all-fired  easiest  shot  I  iver  did  see." 

"No!  did  he,  though?"  said  Archer,  winking  to 
Dolph  to  hold  his  tongue,  as  he  handed  the  big  flask 
of  Ferintosh  to  old  Draw,  who  incontinently  applied 
the  neck  to  his  mouth,  in  utter  contempt  of  the  silver 
cup  which  covered  the  bottom — "  What  do  you  say  to 
that,  Frank  ?  I  can  hardly  believe  such  things  of  you. 
We  heard  the  shot;  did  you  not  fetch  him  ?" 

"  I  can't  lie,  Harry,"  replied  Frank,  with  a  sort  of 
bashful  grin.  '<  I  believe  I  did  miss  him  clean;  and 
he  gave  me  a  pretty  fair  shot,  too  ;  though  not  at  ten 
yards,  as  that  most  mendacious  of  all  mankind,  if  he 


134  THE     DEERSTALKERS. 

should  not  rather  be  called  devilLifid,  says  ;  but  at  some 
thirty  or  forty.  Yes,  I  did  miss  him  clean.  I  looked 
out  sharp  enough,  but  the  deuce  a  drop  of  blood,  orbit 
of  cut  hair  could  I  find  ;  nor  could  I  even  trace  where 
the  b^ll  had  barked  the  bushes." 

"We  saw  you,  Frank!  we  saw  you,"  said  Harry, 
laughing  heartily.  "  It  is  w^ell  for  you  that  you  stuck 
to  the  truth,  for  if  you'd  told  the  least  bit  of  a  story, 
we'd  have  fined  you  champagne  for  a  dozen.  But  what 
sport  have  you  had  ?  what  have  you  done  ?" 

"  Torn  my  new  jacket  into  ribbons ;  scratched  my 
hands  so  that  I  shall  be  obliged  to  wear  gloves  for  the 
next  three  months  ;  and  got  a  most  furious  appetite  !" 

"  No  doubt  about  the  last  item,"  said  Harry,  laugh- 
ing, "  but  what  in  the  shooting  line  ? — How  many  pair 
of  antlers?" 

"  I'll  trouble  you,  Mr.  Pierson,  for  that  steak  nearest 
to  you.  Exactly  !  Upon  the  biscuit,  if  you  please,  with 
a  pinch  of  the  salt,  and  just  one  dash  of  the  red  pep- 
per," said  Master  Frank,  turning  a  resolutely  deaf  e* 
to  all  questions  in  relation  to  vert  or  venison. 

"Well,  Tom,  what  have  you  got  to  say  for  yourself?" 

f'Nauthen  much,  nohow,"  responded  the  fat  man, 
scratching  his  head,  doubtfully  ;  "  that  'ere  darned  little 
Wax-skin,  atween  his  peagreen  jacket  and  his  silver 
rifle,  and  his  etarnal  awkard  ways,  and  his  hollering, 
wheniver  he  got  a  little  ways  off  in  the  woods,  for  all  the 
vorld  like  a  peacock  in  rainy  weather,  skeart  all  the 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  135 

deer  clean  off  the  range.  We  might  have  had  ten  nicest 
kind  of  good  fair  shots,  for  we've  seen  more  nor  that, 
but  he  got  jest  one  shot,  and  that,  as  you  seed,  he  missed 
shameful,  and  I — I — " 

*'  Well,  you  ? — what  next  ?  out  with  it,  or  it'll  choke 
you — what  did  you  do  ?" 

it  I  kilt  one,  as  he  skeart,  and  it  corned  kind  o'  quar- 
terin'  acrost  my  track.  It  war  a  plaguy  long  shot,  tew, 
but  I  downed  it." 

"  One  I  ah  !  that  was  the  first,  you  mean.  Well,  and 
how  many  since  ?" 

t'Why  one,  I  tells  you — darn  your  etarnal  stupia 
head !  carn't  you  so  much  as  understand  a  chap,  when 
he  speaks  right  down  English  V 

"  Oh  !  one  more.  Well,  how  did  you  kill  him  }  was 
it  since  you  struck  the  burnt  pasture  V 

"  I  telled  you  afore.  It  was  one  as  he  skeart,  and  it 
corned  kind  o'  quarterin'  like  acrost  my  track.  It  was 
a  plaguy  long  shot,  tew,  but  I  downed  it — " 

"  Confound  you  !  that  is  the  same  you  told  us  about 
first  of  all.  The  second,  I  mean — how  did  you  ^q\  the 
second .'"' 

"  There  ar'n't  no  second." 

"  No  second  !  why  you  said  one\  and  when  I  asked 
you  how  many  since,  you  said  on^ ;  that  makes  two,  as 
I  learned  when  I  went  to  school." 

"One's  one;  and   you  knows  it,  darn  you!     Yoy 
carn't  make  two  out  of  ©re,  nohow," 
116 


136  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

"  And  you,  I  think,  can   scarce  beat  us  two,  with 
one  buck  between  you.     We'll  treat  all  the  town  to 
niglit,  and  Dolph,  here,  will  have  to  get  drunk,  wolves 
or  no  wolves !" 

'<  How  many  have  you  got,  Aircher }  More  nor  one  ? 
say !" 

"  Tell  him,  Dolph.  He's  such  a  Turk,  he  won't  be- 
lieve me,  if  I  tell  him  the  truth." 

'«  Well !  we've  got  six,  I  reckon.  And  if  I'd  onlj' 
a'  had  two  barrels,  it  might  jest  as  well  a'  been  wven ! 
But  it's  a  good  day  as  it  is,  inyhow;  and  so,"  he 
added  gravely,  "  we'll  be  thankful,  and  not  swear  none, 
if  you  please,  Mr.  Draw." 

"Sartin.^"  replied  Tom  interrogatively,  his  eyes 
glistening  eagerly,  between  envy  and  admiration ;  for, 
having  in  view  the  Dutch  hunter's  well  known  veracity, 
he  did  not  for  a  moment  question  his  assertion.  "  Six ! 
Did  you  for  sartin,  though?  and  how  many  on  'em  did 
that  plaguy  critter  git  ?" — and  he  pointed  to  Harry  as 
he  spoke. 

'' Pretty  nigh  all  on  'em,  for  that,"  responded  the 
Dutchman.  <'  He's  too  much  for  me,  Mr.  Draw,  iny- 
ways  ;  and  I  guess  that  means  for  you  too — we're 
gittin'  old  and  stiff,  and  you're  gittin'  fat — " 

"Getting  fat!"  shrieked  Frank,  who,  by  aid  of  the 
fat  juicy  venison  steak,  and  two  or  three  deep  libations 
of  the  Ferintosh,  had  recovered  his  impudence  at  least. 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  137 

if  not  his  equanimity — "  I  wonder  what  the  devil  he 
will  be,  when  he  has  got  fat !" 

"Fat  be  darned!"  replied  the  Falstaff.  "  Fat  niver 
hindered  no  one  of  doin'  nauthen  yit,  as  I  knows  on  ; 
and  I  can  tell  you,  I  can  outwalk,  outdrink,  outshoot, 
outrun,  out " 

"  Lie  !"  interposed  Frank. 

^^Oiii-do — "  continued  Tom,  "these  cussed  Yorkers 
at  iverything ;  let  alone  lying,  which  iverybody  knows 
Forester  here  whips  creashun  at.  Didn't  you  niver 
hear,  Dolph,  how  he  was  brought  up  to  give  evidence 
at  Newark,  in  the  Jarseys,  and  he  swore  right  stret  up 
and  down,  and  sticked  to  what  he  swore  uncommon 
hard ;  and  the  more  the  lawyers  they  tried  to  bother 
him,  why  the  more  little  Wax-skin  couldn't  be  bothered 
nohow  ;  but  kind  o'  bothered  them  back  wust  kind,  so 
as  they  couldn't  make  nauthen  on  him  ;  nor  nauthen  on 
the  case  nohow !  For  you  see  jest  this  time,  kind  o'  for 
fun  like  and  to  make  folks  wonder,  Frank  he  wor  tellin' 
pretty  nigh  the  truth — 's  nigh  as  he  could  tell't,  inyhow 
— and  his  ividence  was  a  raal  stumper ;  there  warn't  no 
gittin'  over  it,  and  the  defendant's  attorney  seed  that 
too — a  darned  etarnal  'cutest  kind  o'  small  chap  he 
was — a  leetle  mite  of  a  chap  to  have  sich  an  ungodly 
sight  of  brains — Pll  stand  treats  twenty  times  for  him, 
if  iver  we  comes  togither — well,  he  upped,  and  he 
summed  up  to  the  jury ;  and  he  made  an  all-fired  long 
talk  on  the  other  witnesses,  and  showed  as  all  they  said 


138  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

warn't  nautlien  ;  and  so  it  warn't  nauthen,  inyhow  ;  and 
the  jury  they  didn't  want  tellin'  that,  I  reckon.  Well, 
when  he  got  to  P'rank  here,  he  says,  <Now,  gentleme/i, 
we  come  to  Mister  Forester's  ividence,  gentleTTim  ;  and 
mio"hty  darned  strong  ividence  it  is  tew ;  if  only  so  be  as 
one  could  believe  one  word  on  it.' — Then  Forester  here, 
he  beginned  to  twist  up  thim  darned  long  moustaches, 
and  tried  kind  o'  not  to  laugh,  and  to  look  savage  tew ; 
and  the  jury  they  beginned  to  stare,  and  to  wonder, 
likely,  what  was  acomin'  next.  Then  torights  he 
went  on  agin,  and  says  he — <  But  the  trouble  is,  one 
carn't  believe  a  word  on  it ;  and  nobody  won't  nor  no- 
body don't  believe  a  word  on't — bekase  how's  they 
agoin'  to  believe,  or  how's  you  agoin'  to  believe,  gentle- 
men, intelligent  and  enlightened  and  idicated  men  as 
you  be,  as  a  man  what  makes  his  livin',  what  aims  his 
daily  bread,  genWemen,  and  his  daily  brandy  tew— and 
a  darned  lot  of  the  last,  I  reckon— by  doin'  no  one  thing 
but  writin'  G — d  d — n  lies,  kin  tell  the  truth  if  he  wants 
to?  Gentle?7ie?i  may  say  what  they  pleases  about 
oaths,  and  the  sanctity  of  oaths  ;  but  I  tell  you  that  habit 
are  stronger  and  more  sancterfied  than  oaths  alius,  and 
if  a  man  aims  his  bread  by  writin'  lies,  why  it  stands 
to  reason  as  he  carn't  help  tellin'  lies  tew,  and  the  more 
he'll  try  not  to  lie,  why  in  course  the  more  he  will  lie, 
o-entlemen !'  And  so  he  sot  down  ;  and  the  jury  they  riz 
ap ;  and  gave  a  vardict  for  the  defendant  stret  away. 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  139 

You  harn't  got  iiauthen'  to  say  agin'  that,  Forester,  no- 
how." 

"Nothing  whatever,"  replied  Forester,  gravely. 
"Nothing.  It  is  quite  true,  upon  my  honour.  And 
the  foreman  of  the  jury  said  afterwards,  I  believe,  that 
it  didn't  matter  so  much  for  Pet — that  was  the  lawyer's 
name — showin'  as  Mr.  Forester  wTote  lies — for  his  part, 
he  thought  no  one  shouldn't  be  believed  on  his  oath,  aa 
could  write  at  all,  leastways  more  nor  to  keep  a  set  o' 
books,  or  make  out  a  bill  of  sale." 

"Be  that  true  though?" — asked  Dolph,  who  had 
been  listening  very  attentively,  and  who  in  his  plain 
untutored  common-sense  had  been  able  to  discover  nc 
fun  in  such  petty  low-minded  iniquity — "  be  that  true, 
sure  enough  ?" 

"  True  that  the  lawyer  made  those  remarks,  and  that 
the  jury  gave  that  verdict  ?  perfectly  true,  upon  my 
honour !"  replied  Archer.  "  I  was  staying  with  Frank, 
at  the  Cedars,  at  the  time,  and  heard  it." 

"  And  what  did  the  Newark  chaps  dew  to  that  ar' 
jury  ?  We'd  a'  ridden  'em  on  rails,  I  guess,  here,  iny- 
ways;  and  gin  'em  a  lick  o'  tar,  and  a  dash  of  feathers." 

"  They  did  not.  «  They  werry  much  applauded  wot 
they  had  done,' — because  Mr.  Forester  is  something 
of  a  gentleman,  and  gentlemen  are  not  popular  in  those 
diggings  ;  and  because  he  can  read  and  write,  which 
is  esteemed  very  vulgar  by  the  rich  would-be^s,  who  foi 
tlie  most  part  cannot.'''^ 


140  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

"  It's  a  darned  shame,  inyhow,"  said  Dolph. 

t'You  must  remember  that  small  countryfied  cities 
dre  not  the  cvomitry — the  free  open  honest  independent 
country,  Dolph ;  and  that  pedlars,  and  traders,  and 
petty  manufacturers  are  not  yeoman  and  landholders, 
any  more  than  they  are  merchants,  or  gentlemen." 

"  They  think  they  is,  I  guess,"  responded  Dolph. 
<i  At  least  to  judge  from  the  airs  they  take  on  with  us 
countrymen." 

<■<■  Who  could  buy  and  sell  the  whole  of  them — both 
for  means  and  for  manners — both  for  intelligence  and 
uprightness !  but  away  with  them  !  give  me  a  cup  of 
Ferintosh,  I  must  wash  the  taste  of  hats  and  sole-leather 
out  of  my  mouth,  before  I  shall  be  worth  a  farthing  for 
the  rest  of  the  day." 

*'  That's  all  quite  right,  as  you  says,  Harry,"  put  in 
old  Tom  ;  «'  but  how  many  o'  them  six  deer  did  you  kill, 
Harry,  I'd  be  pleased  to  lam  V 

"  I  killed  five,  Tom.  Two  double  shots — and  one 
single.  And  what's  better  yet,  I  fetched  the  big 
crooked-horned  mouse-coloured  hart,  that  they  talk 
about  so  much  here  ;  the  old  fellow,  I  mean,  which 
they  say  has  been  known  on  this  range,  these  hundred 
years." 

"These  hundred  and  fawty  years,"  said  Dolph, 
quietly.  "  I  wish  you  hadn't  killed  him,  Mr.  Aircher, 
though.  There'll  be  blood  come  on't  afore  the  year's 
through — I  knows." 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  141 

<'Tusli!  tush!  Dolph.  Take  a  drop  of  Feiintosh, 
man,  and  drive  such  nonsense  out  of  your  noddle. 
We've  done  stalking,  for  this  day,  I  fancy.  For  Tom 
and  Frank,  here,  seem  to  be  pretty  thoroughly  done 
over,  and  I  don't  know  whither  we  should  go,  to  look 
after  more  game." 

"Nor  I  nuther  ;  leastwise,  onless  w^e  was  to  cross 
for  the  range  beyond  the  black  crick ;  and  that's  ten 
mile  aw^ay." 

'<  And  if  it  were  not  one,  I  would  not  meddle  with  it, 
for  it  is  to  be  our  to-morrow's  beat,  is  it  not,  Dolph  ?" 

"  I  reckon  so," 

<'  Well,  then,  we'll  cook  another  round  of  steaks  and 
biscuits,  and  take  another  pull  at  the  flasks,  and  then 
we'll  have  a  smoke  ;  and  by  that  time  it  will  be  none 
too  early  that  we  should  think  of  starting  on  the  home- 
w^ard  track." 

"  But  whar's  the  boys,  Tom  ?"  inquired  Dolph.  "  I 
hopes  you  harn't  left  them  down  at  the  mill,  like. 
Leastways,  if  you  have,  I  don't  know  how  the  plague 
we'll  get  the  deer  home  as  we've  killed;  and  I  wouldn't 
like  to  let  them  be  out  hereaways  all  night,  I  tell  you." 

"  No,  no.  They'll  be  here  torights ;  black  Jake  he's 
a  bringin'  one  o'  them  ponies  along  the  skirt  o'  the 
wood  where  the  ground  is  the  smoothest,  and  your  boy's 
fetchin'  the  big  batteau  from  the  mill,  and  a  canoe  at 
the  tail  on't.  They'll  be  here  torights  ;  I  swon.  Look! 
here's  black  Jake  acomin'  now!" 


142  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

"  So  he  be,  so  he  be,"  returned  Dolph.  "  Well,  Pll 
stop  and  give  him  his  orders,  for  I  guess  he  won't 
understand  you  so  slick  as  he  will  me  ;  and  then,  while 
he's  bringin'  the  deer,  what  we've  killed  and  cleaned, 
down  from  the  hill,  I'll  away  down  to  the  cedar  crick 
and  bring  up  our  canoe  what  we  came  in,  Mr.  Aircher." 

'^And  how  are  we  to  work  our  cards  after  that, 
Dolph  ?"  inquired  Frank,  who,  having  partaken  heartily 
of  the  second  steak,  had  lighted  his  pipe,  and  stretched 
kimself  out  in  the  full  autumnal  sunshine,  with  a  cup 
of  delicately  tempered  Ferintosh  at  his  hand,  a  picture 
of  the  dolcefar  niente. 

<'  Why,  Mr.  Forester,  I've  bin  athinkin'  that  this  fat 
man,  what  doos  iverything  better  nor  no  one  else,  is 
pretty  much  used  up ;  and  you,  I  guess,  would  jest  as 
leeves  set  still  upon  your  hinder  eend,  as  walk  another 
five  miles  through  them  pine  woods " 

<«  What  you  say  right  is  perfectly  true,  Dolph.  I 
honour  you  for  the  acuteness  and  correctness  of  your 
views." 

<t  There's  nauthen  so  very  cute's  I  see,  in  knowin' 
when  two  chaps  is  nigh  dead  beat.  But 's  I  was  sayin', 
I've  bin  athinkin'  that  the  best  way'll  be  to  let  Jake 
ride  the  pony  back,  arter  he's  brought  all  the  deer 
down  from  the  hill,  to  the  road  at  the  mill ;  and  Ben  '11 
take  the  batteau  with  the  four  bucks  we've  got  hereaways 
down  the  inlet,  and  I'll  tell  him  whar'  he'll  find  the 
other  two  's  Mr.  Aircher  shot  at  the  fust  go  to.     And 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  143 

then  I'll  paddle  one  on  you  and  Mr.  Aircher  paddle  the 
t'other  along  the  lake  to  Cobus's  mill ;  and  then  you 
and  Tom  '11  take  the  ponies,  and  I  and  Mr.  Aircher, 
why  we'll  foot  it." 

"  A  capital  plan,  Dolph,"  said  Harry,  ''  all  but  one 
thing.  Ben  will  never  get  the  batteau  up  the  inlet  to 
the  bridge,  while  the  world  lasts,  with  those  six  deer  in 
it.  No,  no.  Put  two  of  the  four  we've  got  here  into 
tlie  batteau,  and  let  him  pick  up  the  other  two  on  the 
way;  he  will  have  work  enough,  I'll  take  my  oath  of 
it,  to  pole  them  up,  and  he  won't  get  through  so  without 
touching.  Jake  can  load  the  last  two  I  shot  on  the 
pony,  as  he  goes  home,  take  it  through  the  woods  to 
the  main  road,  and  so  to  Dutch  Jake's  tavern.  For  the 
rest,  Tom  can  ride,  and  Master  Frank  must  foot  it  down 
with  the  rest  of  us  !" 

"Well,  well,  if  he  kin,"  replied  the  Dutch  hunter, 
with  a  dubious  shake  of  his  head,  "  if  he  kin,  I'll  not 
gainsay  as  it's  the  best  plan.     But  I  dun'  know " 

"You  don't  know  what?  that  I  can  walk  six  miles 
this  fine  evening?"  cried  Frank,  indignantly.  "Let 
me  tell  you,  Mister  Pierson,  I  can  walk  sixty  of  them, 
if  I  take  a  fancy  to  it !  Six  miles !  why,  bless  your  heart, 
I'll  bet  you  five  to  four,  I'll  do  it  in  an  hour!" 

"Don't  you  bet,  Dolph;  don't  you  bet!"  cried 
Harry,  quickly.  "  He  can  do  it  like  a  shot.  He's  as 
lazy  as  anything  can  be,  when  he's  not  driven  to  it,  but 
shove  him,  and  he  ca^x  put,  I  tell  you." 


!44  THE    DLERSTALKERS. 

"  The  tallest  kind,  he  can,"  interrupted  Tom.  '(■  I 
won't  hear  no  one  sayin'  nauthen'  agin  little  Wax-skin, 
for  all  I  tucks  it  into  him  myself,  a  little.  He'd  walk 
you  into  fits,  you  long  Dutchman,  any  time.  I'll  go 
you  a  single  X  on  it." 

"  For  quickness  he  might,  maybe,  but  not  for  hold 
on,  old  as  I  be." 

"  Speedy's  a  good  dog,  but  Holdfast's  a  better,"  said 
Frank,  merrily.  "But  I  can  hold  on  a  few,  for  all 
that,  Mr.  Pierson." 

"  Fve  known  him  walk  twelve  miles,  five  minutes 
within  two  hours  ;  and  a  hundred,  between  five  o'clock 
on  Saturday  night  and  twelve  on  Monday  night,  without 
training,"  said  Archer.  "  Don't  bet  with  him,  Dolph  ; 
he's  hard  to  beat,  I  tell  you,  any  way  that  you  take 
him." 

"  He's  half  boss !"  said  Tom,  clapping  his  protege 
on  the  back,  "  though  he  did  skear  all  the  deer  with  his 
gimcrackery  to-day." 

''Well,  how  does  my  plan  suit.?"  asked  Archer, 
looking  to  Frank. 

"  Oh!  I'm  agreeable,  provided  only  we  go  home  the 
same  road  we  came,"  said  Frank;  winking  his  eye 
knowingly  at  Tom. 

u  Why?  what  the  devil  do  you  care,  by  which  road 
you  go  home  ?" 

''  I  want  to  have  another  look  at  something  I  saw 


this  morning. 


55 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  145 

<'A  woman,  hey,  Frank? — By  George!  you've  got 
ahead  of  me !  I  never  heard  of  anything  attractive  in 
this  quarter." 

'<  Have  you  not  ?  ah  !  what  do  you  say,  Tom  ?", 

"  The  prettiest  piece  of  gal's  flesh  I've  laid  eyes  on, 
since  I  see  that  gal  you  was  asparkin'  down  to  York, 
Aircher — that  time  as  you  wouldn't  know  old  Tom  in 
Broadway." 

"  It's  false,  you  old  thief!  I  never  cut  you  at  all ! 
Though,  heaven  knows,  it  is  not  for  the  want  of  your 
deserving  it  oftentimes  enough.  But  was  the  girl  so 
pretty,  Frank?" 

<■(■  Pretty,  no  !  not  at  all !  That's  not  the  word.  She 
was  beautiful — lovely — exquisite. — The  loveliest  thing 
I  ever  saw,  except  Lady  Ellenborough,  Harry.  A  pro- 
fusion of  golden  hair,  large  soft  dark-blue  eyes,  a  Gre- 
cian profile,  a  mouth  that  you  would  die,  ten  years 
before  your  time,  to  kiss  once — a  complexion  like  snow ; 
and  a  figure  not  to  be  equalled  by  anything  I  ever  saw 
alive  or  in  marble." 

i' A  lady,  Frank?" 

"Decidedly,  not  a  lady!" 

"  Where  did  you  see  her?" 

"  At  the  door  of  a  small  but  very  pretty  cottage,  a 
mile  or  so  beyond  the  mill  on  the  homeward  side." 

"Ah!  I  don't  know,  indeed.  A  good  hunter  used 
to  live  there,  when  I  was  up  here  last,  two  years  ago ; 
Dut  there  were  no  vronienfolk  about  the  house  then. 


146  TIIK    DEERSTALKERS. 

Holloa,  Dolph,"  he  continued,  turning  to  tlie  hunter, 
who  was  busy  instructing  his  negro  where  he  would 
find  the  carcasses  of  the  slaughtered  deer — "who  is  this 
beautiful  girl,  these  two  noodles  are  half  mad  about?" 
<^  How  should  I  know?"  replied  Dolph,  rather  shortly. 
"Now  then,  Jake,  you  understand  me,  make  tracks, 
and  keep  the  pony  goin',  for  we've  no  time  to  be  alosin'. 
Now",  Mr.  Aircher" — he  added,  turning  round  to  that 
worthy,  having  seen  the  negro  depart,  "  what's  this 
about  gals?   I  niver  knowed  as  you  was  a  gal  man." 

"Thunder!"  exclaimed  Tom.     "I'd  be  pleased  to 
know  who  is,  if  so  be  Aircher  isn't!" 

"  What  gal  is't,  inyhow  ?"  added  Dolph.  "  I  knows 
o'  no  gal  oncomraon  pretty.  There^'s  quite  a  chance 
o'  good-lookin'  ones,  but  none  's  I  know  oncommon." 
"  They  saw  her  at  the  door  of  the  house,  as  far  as  I 
can  make  out,  that  used  to  be  Harry  Barhyte's,  but  he 
has  got  no  sister,  that  ever  I  heard  tell  of  Who  can 
she  be,  Dolph?" 

"  Other  than  a  good  'un,"  responded  Dolph  with  a 
sort  of  groan,  his  whole  countenance  changing  as  he 
spoke. 

"What!  what!  a  naughty  woman  up  in  these  wild 
woods?"  cried  Forester,  laughing,  for  he  had  not  seen 
the  bold  hunter's  face,  or  noticed  his  expression,  as  he 
spoke.  "  I  had  no  idea  such  things  were  to  be  found 
so  far  from  cities." 

"They're  to   be  found,  Mister  Forester,  wherever 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  147 

women  are  found  !"  replied  Pierson  very  shortly.  "  And 
it  will  be  well  for  you,  if  you  don't  learn  as  much  some 
day." 

"  Or  rather,"  interposed  Archer,  "  w^herever  me?i  are 
found  to  make  them  evil.  Before  God,  and  on  my 
honour,  I  believe  that  the  worst  woman  that  ever  lived 
was  better  in  many  points,  and  those  the  finest  of  our 
nature,  than  tfife  best  man.  But  who  is  this  girl,  Dolph 
Pierson  ?" 

*«  The  w^ife  of  Harry  Barhyte." 

ii  Indeed!" 

'<#Ay !  indeed ;  and  she's  half  crazed,  and  hull  ruined, 
the  finest  lad  in  this  quarter;  and  all  for  a  mean, 
cringin'  cuss,  as  isn't  to  be  talked  of  alongside  of 
Harry,  more  nor  a  shot-gui^  is  alongside  of  a  true- 
grooved  rifle." 

"Ah!  I  am  sorry  to  hear  this,"  replied  Harry, 
thoughtfully.  «'  Harry  Barhyte  was  a  fine  fellow,  and 
did  me  a  great  service  once.  What  is  it }  Taken  to 
rum,  hey?" 

"  I'm  afeard  so.  And  she,  as  should  hold  him  back, 
eggs  him  on,  hopin',  I'm  athinkin',  as  he'll  drink  him- 
self dead  one  of  them  bouts,  so's  she  can  folly  her  own 
wicked  notions." 

"  A  very  fiend  !     Who  was  she,  Dolph .?" 

"  Why,  you've  seen  her  fifty  times,  and  more  ;  and 
held  her  on  your  knee  in  past  days,  Mr.  Aircher.  She's 


]48  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

barly  seventeen  now.     You'll  remember  pretty  Mary 
Marten?" 

<'  Great  God !  that  sweet,  merry,  innocent  little  child! 
How  horrible  !  how  horrible  ! — but  sit  down,  sit  down, 
Dolph,  and  tell  us  all  about  it.  You  have  said  too  much 
to  stop  now." 

"  I  ar'n't  got  time  now^ ;  look  ye  here,  Ben's  comin' 
down  the  pond  like  a  strick,  and  Jak^s  got  the  deer 
from  the  cliffs,  and  the  big  mouse- colour,  and  's  raakin' 
tracks  this  away.  I  must  be  off  arter  the  other  canoe, 
or  we'll  niver  git  started,  nohow.  But  don't  you  be 
afeard,  I'm  not  agoin'  to  shirk  off.  I'll  tell  you  all  as  I 
knows  on  it,  arter  supper,  at  Dutch  Jake's  tavern.  I 
will,  Mister  Aircher.  You  knows  what  I  says  I'll  do, 
I  doos."  • 

<'  I  know  it,"  said  Harry  ;  and  lighting  a  cheroot,  he 
too  stretched  himself  out  on  the  turf,  and  began  to 
smoke  diligently.  But  a  damp  had  been  thrown  over 
the  spirits  of  the  party,  even  more  by  Pierson's  manner 
than  by  his  words,  and  little  more  conversation  passed 
until  Dolph  returned,  and  almost  simultaneously  Ben 
arrived  with  the  batteau,  and  the  negro,  with  the  two 
finest  harts. 

The  rest  of  the  arrangements  were  speedily  made  ; 
and  in  less  than  ten  minutes  the  whole  company  was 
afloat.  Ben  Pierson  sweeping  the  big  batteau,  loaded 
with  the  noble  quarry,  toward  the  inlet  of  the  pond  ; 
Dolph  paddling  Frank  Forester,  to  carry  whom  Archer 


THE   DEERSTALKERS.  119 

had  absolutely  refused  ;  and  Harry  piloting  old  Tom 
toward  Cobus  Vanderbeck's  mill,  with  the  gallant 
Smoker  swimming  along  as  staunchly  and  as  fleetly  in 
the  wake  of  the  canoe,  as  if  he  had  not  run  a  mile  since 
daybreak. 

The  sun,  now  near  its  setting,  poured  a  flood  of  in- 
tense golden  lustre  over  the  transparent  lakelet,  among 
which  floated  the  clear  shadows,  purple  and  emerald 
green,  of  the  near  woods  and  distant  mountains.  Not 
a  breath  of  air  rippled  the  bosom  of  the  serene  water, 
or  waved  one  branch  of  the  loftiest  trees  on  its  wood- 
girdled  shores.  Not  a  sound  w^as  to  be  heard,  but  the- 
measured  dash  of  the  paddle,  and  the  gurgling  of  the 
foam  heaped  before  the  bows  of  the  sharp,  fleet  vessel ; 
and  now  and  then,  the  caw,  mellow^ed  by  distance  into 
a  pleasing  murmur,  of  the  homeward  crows.  It  was  an 
evening  in  itself  all  peaceful,  and  such  as  would  have 
inspired  thoughts  of  peace  to  any  soul  that  could  mark 
its  beauties,  and  be  penetrated  by  its  delicious  influ- 
ence. 

But  how  many  are  there  not,  even  of  those  whom  the 
world  calls  good  and  wise  and  great,  who  cannot  spare 
the  time  from  their  all-engrossing  race  after  sublime 
imaginations,  which  are  in  truth  less  than  nothing,  to 
mark  the  beautiful  sublimity  of  nature,  and  learn  the 
love  of  the  Creator  even  from  the  loveliness  of  his  cre- 
ated things  ? 

What  w^onder,  then,  that  the  rude  and  ignorant  and 


foO  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

lowly,  whose  life  is  one  fierce  struggle  against  suffering 
and  sorrow,  should  dwell  among  such  scenes  uncon- 
scious, and  creep  from  their  cradles  to  their  graves, 
unsoftened  by  the  influences  which  move  the  poet's 
soul  even  to  tears — though  not  of  sadness  ! 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  HOUSEHOLD  CURSE. 

The  very  fiend's  arch  mock — 
To  lip  a  wanton  and  suppose  her  chaste. 

Shaespeare. 

It  was  already  dark  when  the  hunters  arrived,  travel- 
worn  and  hungry,  at  the  hospitable  portico  of  the 
country  tavern,  where  they  w^ere  received  by  the  inde- 
fatigable Timothy  with  tidings,  that  there  were  "  no  but 
faive  minnits  to  spare  afore  't  dinner's  be  upon  t'  tea- 
ble  ;  so  it  behooved  them  look  raight  sharp  an  if  they 
thought  to  shift  themselves." 

"  I  think  to  shift  myself,  for  one,  Tim,"  said  his  mas- 
ter, good-humouredly ;  "so  bring  up  some  hot  w^ater 
to  my  room  as  quick  as  you  can."  3^ 

"  Ditto,"  said  Frank,  before  Tim  had  time  to  reply. 

«« T'het  wathur  is  bin  i'  boath  your  ro-ooms  this  'our 

and  better,"  he  replied,  half  disgusted  as  it  would  seem 

by  the  insinuation  that  a  valet  of  his  discretion  should 

have  been  guilty  of  such  a  solecism  as  to  allow  gentle- 

117    '  m 


152  THE     DEERSTALKERS. 

men  to  retire  to  their  dressing-rooms  unprovided  with 
the  first  requisite  of  the  toilette. 

"  It  is  pretty  cold  water,  I  should  fancy,  then,  by  this 
time,  Timothy,"  said  Frank,  with  a  laugh  at  his  own 
sharpness  as  he  conceived  it. 

««  Noo,  Measter  Forester,  did  you  Iver  ken  me  to  do 
a  varry  simple  thing?" 

"  I  cannot  say  that  I  ever  did,  Tim." 

"  Weel,  and  ay  reckon  'at  you  niver  will,  gin  you 
were  to  live  mair  nor  a  hoondred  years,  and  a  hoondred 
upon  't  back  o'  them.  And  ay  think  it  wud  be  a  varry 
simple  thing  i'deed  to  tak  t'  hot  wathur  oop  into  twa 
cauld  chammers.  Nay,  nay,  Measter  Frank,  that's  not 
the  way  as  things  is  doon  i'  t'  West  Raiding.  There's 
twa  good  blazing  fires  i'  t'  stoves,  laike,  and  t'  kettles 
boiling  atop  on  'em.  But  gang  your  gait,  gentlemen, 
or  t'  dinner  '11  be  overdoon,  and  then  ay's  be  bla-amed 
for  't,  ay's  oophaud  it." 

Within  ten  minutes,  however,  their  ablutions  per- 
formed, and  fully  rigged  from  head  to  foot,  Harry  and 
Frank  made  their  appearance  in  the  little  parlour,  where 
the  table  awaited  them,  spread  with  its  clean  white  linen 
and  decorated  with  its  glittering  glass  and  silver,  and 
its  four  tall  wax- lights. 

Here  they  were  speedily  joined  by  Tom  Draw,  who 
had  contented  himself  with  a  wash  under  the  pump, 
Dolph  declining  to  form  one  of  the  party,  but  promising 


THE  def:rstalkers.  153 

to  join  them  as  soon  as  they  should  have  got  through 
dinner. 

Then,  without  farther  delay,  Timothy  set  upon  the 
table  a  laro-e  tureen  full  of  the  stron2;est  and  most 
delicious  mutton  broth,  as  hot  as  lava,  and  as  perfectly 
concocted  as  the  most  fastidious  palate  could  desire. 

This  capital  potage  was  followed  by  a  matelote  of 
eels  from  the  neighbouring  mill-pond,  which  Frank, 
having  imbibed  a  large  bell-glassful  of  dry  straw- 
coloured  sherry  after  his  soup,  pronounced  equal  to 
anything  that  he  had  ever  tasted,  even  at  the  RocJier  de 
Cancale,  the  house  jmr  excellence  of  all  the  world,  be  it 
known,  for  fish. 

"  I  don't  think  much  of  eels,  nohow,"  grumbled  Fat 
Tom,  holding  out  his  plate  for  a  second  helping,  "but 
that  ar'  rich  gravy  with  the  onions  and  spices  and 
Madeira  wine  doos  help  them  some,  I  swon.  Now, 
then,  Tim,  ar'n't  you  agoin'  to  open  one  of  them  long- 
necks?" 

Tim  glanced  a  doubtful  eye  toward  his  master. 

«« Not  for  your  life,  you  varlet,  until  the  venison's  on 
the  table.  Champagne  with  fish,  indeed  ! — It's  as  bad 
almost  as  Tom  Dragon,  who  would  eat  ham  with  his 
canvass  ducks  at  Snedecor's.  It  spoiled  my  appetite 
for  the  day,  and  I  could  drink  nothing  for  a  week  after- 
ward. Another  such  shock  to  my  gastronomic  nerves 
would  surely  kill  me.     No!  no  champagne ;  give  him 


154  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

a  tumblerful  of  whiskey,  if  he  wants  it,  and  me  a 
thimbleful—" 

<'  And  me  ditto!"  chimed  in  Frank  Forester. 

"  And  then  bring  us  the  haunch !  and  that  done,  Tom 
shall  be  gratified  wTth  a  dash  at  the  Siller j/  sec!  Upon 
my  word  !"  he  added,  as  the  smoking  haunch  made  its 
appearance,  covered  with  two  inches  of  fat,  crisply 
embrowned  to  the  most  delicate  golden  hue  ;  "  it  is  as 
fine  a  one  as  I  have  seen  these  three  years.  Fill  up  the 
glasses,  Tim  ;  we'll  drink  Dolph's  health  for  this,  at  all 
events  in  his  absence.  Another  slice,  Tom? — It  eats 
short,  don't  it,  Frank  .^'"^ 

<'  As  short  as  pufi-paste — a  glass  of  champagne  with 
you,  Harry  ?" 

«  With  pleasure." 

"  And  what  the  d — 1  have  I  ben  adoin'  that  I  carn't 
be  let  into  that  'ere  party?  With  only  three  men,  it's 
a  burnin'  shame  for  tw^o  on  'em  to  be  guzzlin'  by  them- 
selves selfish  like !  Besides,  'taint  fair  noways,  for 
w4ien  w^e  all  gits  tight,  you'll  be  aswearin'  I  was  drunk 
fust,  or  some  sich  thunderin'  lie." 

<■(■  Help  yourself,  man  alive ;  but  don't  think,  much 
less  talk  about  getting  drunk,  there's  no  such  w^ork  as 
that  to  be  done  to-night.  Let  me  giA^e  you  another 
slice,  Frank ;  Fve  got  a  prime  cut  yet,  with  a  beautiful 
streak  of  fat." 

"  You  are  irresistible,  Harry.  But  won't  you  keep 
me  company  ?" 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  155 

«'  To  be  sure  I  will.  I  am  only  beginning  to  eat. 
I'm  a  whale  at  venison,  as  poor  Mac  used  to  say." 

"Poor  Mac,  indeed!" 

<'  Fust-rate  stuff  that  creawn  wine  o'  his  was.  I  hain't 
niver  tasted  nothin'  like  that,  niver  since,"  said  Tom 
with  a  sigh  of  regret,  not  for  the  excellent  fellow  who 
had  departed,  but  for  the  excellent  wine  the  memory 
of  which  yet  dwelt  on  his  palate. 

"  Nor  ever  will,  I  fancy,"  said  Harry.  "  The  taste 
for  champagne  in  this  country  is  as  bad  and  as  false  as 
it  can  be,  and  I  think  the  wine  gets  worse  every  day. 
If  it  is  tolerably  dry  it  is  as  thin  as  vinegar,  if  fruity  and 
strong  it  is  as  sweet  as  molasses.  This  is  about  the 
best  in  the  market,  but  it  is  poor  thin  stuff  to  my  fancy." 

"What  is  it.^" 

"  They  call  it  the  Thorn." 

"  Let  them  call  it  the  Thorn !  What  else  have  you 
got  for  dinner,  Timothy  ?" 

"  Some  Stilton  cheese  and  caviar,  sir." 

"  Fill  round  the  end  of  that  champagne,  then  ;  and 
let  us  have  a  bottle  of  the  old  port  with  the  cheese." 

"  Ay,  ay,  sur !  It's  been  doon  afore  t'  fire  airing  laike 
sin'  you  set  doon  to  t'  teable !" 

"  I  hope  not  too  near.  If  it  is  too  warm  it  will  be 
all  day  with  it." 

"Nay!  nay!  sur,  ay's  oophaud  it's  raight.  Noo, 
mun  ay  get  t'  poonch-bowl .?" 

"  Of  course  you  must,  and  the  devilled  biscuits,  and 


156  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

the  pipes;  and  that  done,  see  if  you  can't  scare  up  old 
Dolph  somewhere  or  other." 

"He's  waiting  i'  t'  bar-room  whaile  you've  got  dean." 

"  That's  well.  What  the  deuce  is  the  matter  with 
you,  Tom  ?  Don't  be  sick  upon  the  table,  man  alive  ! 
What  ails  you,  spitting  and  sputtering  in  that  way .''" 

But  up  got  the  old  man,  in  spite  of  all  exhortations, 
rushed  to  the  window,  heaved  it  open  might  and  main, 
and  spit  out  a  mouthful  of  the  caviar  w^hich  he  had 
taken,  utterly  unconscious  w^hat  he  was  absorbing — an 
action  w^hich  was  followed  by  a  burst  of  most  vehement 
imprecations,  and  by  a  reiterated  appeal  to  Timothy  for 
brandy,  a  tumbler  full  of  brandy  without  the  darned 
drop  of  ^w^ater,  to  wash  out  the  taste  of  that  ere  filthy 
pison  stuff,  w^hat  Aircher  'd  sot  upon  the  table  jest  to 
kill  a  fellow  with. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  Frank  and  Harry  could 
pacify  him  at  all,  for  their  enormous  and  irrepressible 
laughter  at  first  confirmed  his  idea  that  a  premeditated 
trick  had  been  played  off  upon  him,  and  that  he  had 
been  induced  to  eat  what  he  styled  «'some  all-fired 
ongodly  nastiness,  of  Aircher's  fixin'."  And  it  was 
only  on  seeing  Frank  and  Archer  apply  themselves  to 
the  odious  dish  with  the  gusto  of  genuine  epicures,  tliat 
he  transferred  his  abuse  from  the  filthiness  of  the  caviar 
to  the  bestiality  of  them  that  could  eat  such  "  stinkin' 
trash." 

A  brimming  bumper  or  two  of  port  did  much,  how- 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  167 

ever,  to  mollify  his  indignation,  and  by  the  time  that 
the  punch  made  its  entree^  accompanied  by  pipes,  Turk- 
ish tobacco,  and  devilled  biscuits,  the  serenity  of  his 
visage  and  the  amiability  of  his  demeanour  were  per- 
fectly restored. 

By  this  time,  also,  Dolph  had  come  upon  the  scene  ; 
and,  having  filled  his  pipe  v/ith  kinnekinninck,  and 
accepted  a  single  rummer  of  the  fragrant  punch,  at 
Harry's  bidding  he  began  the  narrative  anent  Harry 
Barhyte  and  his  handsome  wife : — 

*'  Well,  Mr.  Aircher,  there  ar'n't  much  of  a  story  no- 
how, and  what  there  is,  is  right  sad  and  dismal.  It's 
two  year  since,  no  longer,  that  Harry  Barhyte,  as  you 
knowed  him  in  them  days,  the  smartest  and  likeliest  of 
ail  the  young  chaps  hereaway,  and  the  best  with  the 
rifle  a  great  sight,  began  to  be  afollowin'  and  hangin' 
round  like,  arter  Mary  ;  she  was  scarce  fifteen  year  old, 
and  the  purtiest  gal  the  sun  shone  down  upon  ;  but  she 
was  wild  and  flighty  then,  and  I  niver  thought  no  good 
would  come  on't ;  seein'  I'd  noticed  how,  the  year  afore, 
she  carried  on  with  black  Ned  Wheeler,  till  old  Mar- 
ten he  concailed  as  things  had  gone  far  enough  that 
away,  and  turned  Ned  out  o'  doors ;  and  arter  that  Jie 
turned  wickeder,  and  wilder,  and  more  drunkener  than 
iver,  and  it  'ud  well  nigh  make  your  hair  rise  stret  on 
eend  to  hear  how  he'd  rave  and  rip  and  roar,  and  call 
down  cusses  on  the  gal  and  all  her  kin,  and  swear  ven- 
geance on  any  one  as  should  so  much  's  look  at  her, 


158  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

let  alone  like  her.  Well,  aiter  a  spell  like,  he  'listed 
and  went  off  South  somewheres,  Florida  ways,  I  reckon, 
and  warn't  heerd  tell  of  for  a  many  a  day.  And 
Mary  she  did  nothen  but  laugh  and  jeer  like,  and  grew 
wilder  and  merrier  and  flightier  than  iver ;  and  carried 
on  wusser  nor  afore,  only  she  carried  on  jest  alike  with 
all  the  boys  now,  where  afore  she  only  carried  on  with 
Ned  like.  Still  I  conraited  as  she  liked  Ned,  as  well 
as  her  triflin',  vain  charakter  'ud  let  her  like  iny  one  ; 
and  so  I  telled  Harry  Barhyte.  But  bless  you,  Mr. 
Aircher,  he  was  as  crazy  as  a  loon,  and  rared  right  up 
on  eend,  and  swore  she  wor  the  best  and  modestest  and 
lovin'est  gal  in  the  hull  range  ;  and  hollered  at  me  so 
as  I  couldn't  stand  it  nohow.  So  he  and  I  kind  o' 
cooled  off  like,  and  hain't  niver  bin  right  friends  since. 
Well,  for  six  months,  or  better,  Harry  and  she  wor  one 
day  sparkin'  it  the  sweetest  kind,  wanderin'  about  in 
the  woods,  with  his  arm  about  her  waist,  and  her  hand 
clasped  in  hisn,  or  sittin'  down  by  some  clear  brook- 
side,  with  her  head  leanin'  on  his  shoulder,  and  her  big 
blue  eyes  lookin'  up  into  hisn  as  tender  and  as  melan- 
choly as  a  faan's.  And  the  next  day  agin,  she'd  start 
right  round,  and  likely  carry  on  jest  as  free  with  some 
other  chap,  and  not  so  much  as  throw  a  word  to  Harry, 
or  give  a  civil  answer  when  he'd  speak  to  her.  But  it 
warn't  no  use,  nohow.  He  seemed  to  be  all  the  keener 
arter  her,  the  wuss  she  used  him,  and  what  should 
a'  turned  him  right  agin  her,  sot  him  the  stronger  on  her 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  ]59 

side.  And  I  dun'  know  how  'twas  at  last,  out  she 
made  Harry  believe  as  she  loved  him,  and  it  warn't 
nothin'  but  her  youth,  and  light  heart,  and  merriness  ; 
but  I  knowed — I  did — that  them  was  signs  of  a  bad 
heart,  not  a  light  one,  and  of  a  devilish  character.  But  jest 
so  it  was  sot  to  be,  and  so  it  had  to  be,  and  so  it  was  ; 
and  arter  quite  a  spell  of  sparkin'  and  foolin',  off  and 
on,  why  they  got  married  ;  and '  Harry  tuk  her  home  ; 
and  he  had  iverything  fixed  nice  about  her ;  and  pro- 
vided raal  well  for  her ;  and  niver  went  to  the  tavern 
like,  but  passed  his  evenin's  to  hum  alius,  and  w^as  the 
steadiest,  best-doin'est,  and  fondest  husband  in  the 
country.  And  for  awliile  she  seemed  to  be  contint, 
and  happy,  and  proud  of  Harry  as  he  wor  of  her,  and 
with  more  cause,  I  tell  you,  for  if  she  had  good  looks, 
he  had  good  natur'  ;  and  what's  raal  is  better  nor  w^hat's 
seemin',  inyhow.  Arter  awhile,  agin,  she  kind  o'  got 
weary,  it  seemed,  and  uncontint  at  hum,  and  kept  on 
the  run  to  the  neighbour's  houses  like,  and  carried 
on  agin  with  the  young  boys,  like  as  if  she  hadn't  bin 
a  married  woman ;  but  Harry  he  w^ouldn't  see  no  harm 
in  it,  though  it  w^as  plain  to  see  as  he  was  sad  b3^times, 
and  thoughtful,  and  grieved  badly,  that  she  couldn't 
stay  to  hum  like  and  be  happy  by  her  own  fireside. 
And  then  black  Ned  come  hum,  with  his  discharge  , 
for  he'd  got  wounded  pretty  smartly  by  them  Injuns, 
down  in  Florida— the  wuss  luck  as  they  didn't  kill 
him! — and   then  there  was    H —     in  the  house  right 


160  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

away  !  For  she'd  be  mopin'  haaf  the  time,  and  cryin' 
and  sulkin'  like  a  hurt  she-bar,  and  the  next  minnit 
agm,  she'd  be  quarrellin'  and  hollerin',  and  vexin' 
Harry's  heart  out.  So  that  he  tuk  to  comin'  down  to 
Jake's,  and  spendin'  all  his  time  there  pretty  nigh  ;  and 
drinkin'  till  all's  blue  ;  and  what's  wuss  yet,  he  got 
friends  with  black  Ned  ;  for  he  couldn't  work  none,  for 
his  wound  like,  but  loafed  round  the  bar,  and  now  and 
agin  'ud  hunt  or  fish  a  spell,  and  so  H —  to  hum  drew 
Harry  into  idleness  ;  and  idleness,  that  led  him  into 
drinkin'  and  drinkin'  into  friendship  with  black  Ned  ; 
and  whereaway  that  ar'  will  carry  him,  it's  easier 
guessin'  nor  knowin !" 

"  A  sad  story,  indeed,"  said  Harry,  with  a  sigh.  "  I 
am  sorry  for  Barhyte  ;  the  other  fellow  was  a  scamp 
always,  and  I  have  little  doubt  a  very  ruffian.  Are 
Harry  and  he  friends  yet  .^" 

i'  Bless  you,  yes!  Friends !  why  she's  persuaded  him 
to  take  black  Ned  to  hum,  into  the  very  house  ;  and  he 
lives  there  all  as  if  he  wor  Harry's  brother;  while 
iverybody  else  can  see  what  Harry's  eyes  is  sealed  to. 
and  haaf  of  his  old  friends  is  droppin'  off  from  him  ; 
and  some  says  he's  a  fool,  and  some  says  he's  poor- 
hearted,  and  lowminded,  and  that  he  winks  hard  at  his 
own  disgrace.  But  iny  man  as  says  so  fa,  Mr.  Aircher. 
For  Harry's  blinded  by  his  own  trustiness  and  his  own 
honest  natur',  and  he  loves  that  blackhearted  jade  with 
his  whole  soul ;   and  Pd  not  hint  to  him,  what  we  all 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  161 

of  US  knows  her  to  be,  no,  not  for  a  thousand  dollars, 
leastways  if  I  didn't  want  a  rifle-bullet  driven  through 
my  brain-pan." 

<■<■  What  strange  infatuation  !  how  deplorable !  and 
yet  he  used  to  be  a  clear-headed,  rational,  strong-mind- 
ed man,"  said  Archer  thoughtfully. 

"  I've  heern  say  oftentimes,  Mr.  Aircher,  that  it  is  jest 
them  very  men,  cl'ar-headed,  and  strong-minded,  as 
men  carn't  fool  with  nohow,  as  is  the  easiest  and  wust 
fooled  by  women.  How  is't  ?  I  dun  know  much  about 
them  she-critters,  nor  doosn't  want  to  know.  How  is't?" 

"  I  fancy  that  you  are  not  far  wrong,  Dolph,"  replied 
Archer,  with  a  smile.  "  But  what  will  be  the  end  of 
it?  Harry  must  be  undeceived  some  day  or  other,  and 
then—" 

"  And  then,  I  dreads  to  think  what'll  turn  up. 
Harry'll  kill  him  sartin  if  he  should  catch  him,  and  I 
doubt  somehow  he'd  not  live  hisself  lonof  arter." 

"  And  she  ?"  asked  Harry  Archer,  with  an  expression 
of  strong  interest,  as  he  investigated  this  strange  and 
tortuous  plot  of  rural  crime  and  passion. 

"  She!  she's  as  safe  from  him,  as  if  she  w^or  in  heaven, 
where  she  w^on't  niver  be  !  Why  he'd  not  harm  a  hair 
of  her  head,  nor  say  a  word  agin  her  black  wickedness, 
though  he  knowed  all  about  it.  But  she's  a  drivin'  him 
to  death  and  to  desfTeration,  and  means,  I  guess,  to  drive 
him.  I'd  not  wonrler  not  a  mossel,  to  see  Harry  Barhyte 
dead,  and  Ned  Wheeler  married  to  his  wife,  afore  the 


162  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

leaves  is  green  agin  upon  them  hills.  He's  failin'  ivery 
day,  I  see  that  cl'arly.  But  it's  agittin'  late,  and  I've 
told  my  tale,  and  now  I'll  be  movin'.  For  if  we 
means  to  scour  the  black  brook  range  to-morrow,  we'd 
needs  be  afoot  by  daylight  or  afore." 

"  And  that  is  precisely  what  we  do  mean,"  said 
Archer.  '<•  So  good-night,  old  friend,  and  rouse  us  up 
before  the  sun  to-morrow.  Fll  away  to  my  bed,  my- 
self, shortly." 

But,  notwithstanding  his  expressed  intention,  he  did 
not  move,  but  sat  there  with  his  head  buried  in  his 
hands,  evidently  pondering  deeply  on  what  he  had 
heard,  until  Frank  Forester,  who,  knowing  nothing  of 
the  parties,  was  less  deeply  moved  than  Archer,  asked 
him  half  jocularly  what  ailed  him,  that  he  pondered  so 
gravely  on  the  sins  and  sorrows  of  this  rustic  Mars  and 
Venus. 

"  Do  not  joke,  Frank,"  he  answered  ;  "  it  is  no  jok- 
ing matter.  I  know  both  of  these  unhappy  people  well. 
Barhyte  once  saved  my  life,  or  something  very  like  it, 
when  my  foot  had  slipped,  and  I  had  fallen  on  my  back 
within  six  paces  of  a  wounded  bear,  my  rifle  empty, 
and  neither  knife  nor  tomahawk  at  hand.  The  girl,  as 
old  Dolph  told  you,  has  set  on  my  knees  a  hundred 
times,  when  she  was  an  innocent  and  lovely  child.  I 
cannot  think  of  these  things,  look  first  upon  this  picture 
then  on  that,  without  being  deeply  moved.  Beside 
which,  I  know  the  character  of  these  people  so  well, 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  163 

that  I  anticipate  the  occurrence,  even  in  this  secluded 
valley,  of  some  terrible  domestic  tragedy." 

<' Pshaw!  Harry,  you  look  too  gravely  on  these  mat- 
ters. People  of  this  kind  rarely  or  never  have  so  keen 
sentiments  of  honour,  or  feel  so  much  abased  by  degra- 
dation of  this  sort  as  to  have  recourse  to  any  very  sangui- 
nary vengeance,  much  less  to  suicide,  which  you  seem, 
I  think,  to  apprehend." 

"It  is  you  who  are  in  error,  Frank,  not  I.  What 
yoa  say  maybe  very  true,  probably  is  true  of  the  small, 
paltr}',  peddling  burghers  of  the  cities,  of  the  toilworn 
and  brutalized  artisans  of  the  factories,  nay,  even  of  the 
dull  drudging  peasants  of  the  open  country.  But  these 
men,  independent  yeomen,  wild  free  foresters,  living  a 
life  of  continual  excitement,  incurring  constant  peril, 
familiar  with  the  use  of  arms,  their  whole  lives  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave  one  wild  and  strange  romance, 
these  men,  I  say,  feel  wrongs  done  to  their  sense  of 
honour  as  keenly,  and  avenge  such  as  ruthlessly,  as  the 
red  Indian  whom  they  have  supplanted  in  these  hunting- 
grounds  ;  and  for  this  poor  fellow  in  particular,  this 
Harry  Barhyte,  I  am  as  sure  that  he  will  not  survive,  as 
that  he  will  avenge  the  loss  of  his  honour,  and  the  rob- 
bery of  his  wife's  affections.  It  makes  me  sad,  and  it 
makes  me  sick,  to  think  of  it,  and  yet  I  do  not  see  what 
can  be  done." 

«*  Nothing  can  be  done,  Harry,"  replied  Forester,  who 
was  now  as  era^  e  as  his  friend.     "  Interference  in  such 


164  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

matters  only  makes  tbem  worse ;  and  involves  those  who 
v.'ould  do  ^ood  in  the  catastrophe,  if  there  be  one. 
Nothing  can  be  done,  Harry;  except  what  T  think  the 
best  for  both  of  us,  to  take  one  more  glass  of  punch, 
tumble  into  bed,  and  wake  up  with  brighter  thoughts, 
please  God,  to-morrow  morning." 

"  I  believe  so,"  said  Archer,  with  a  sad  smile  at  his 
friend's  quaintness  ;  and  in  a  moment  or  two  afterward 
the  night-lamps  were  lighted,  and  they  retired  to  rest, 
tired  enough  to  make  it  nearly  certain  that  sleep  would 
not  long  avoid  their  pillows. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  DISCOVERY. 

He  lay  where  he  had  fallen.     Slain  outright, 
No  parting  struggle  had  convulsed  his  limbs, 
Nor  changed  the  grave  composure  of  his  face, 
Languid  and  melancholy. 

MS.  Poem. 

The  sun  was  just  rising  on  the  morrow,  when  Dolph 
Pierson  aroused  the  friends  from  the  unusually  heavy 
slumbers,  which  had  fallen  upon  them  in  consequence 
of  the  severe  fatigue  and  excitement  of  the  past  day. 
But  once  awakened,  they  were  on  foot  and  alert  on  the 
instant,  and  having  speedily  despatched  the  ample  cold 
breakfast  which  was  set  before  them,  Harry  and  Fores- 
ter got  under  way  with  the  Dutch  hunter.  Old  Tom, 
who  was  completely  overdone  by  the  tramp  he  had 
undergone,  and  by  the  disgust  he  had  encountered  in 
being  beaten  so  disgracefully  in  spite  of  all  his  brag- 
ging, prepared  to  lie  by,  and  try  his  luck  at  the  Picke- 
rel and  Pearch,  for  which  the  lake  above  was  famous. 

Taught  by  his  yesterday's  experience,  Master  Frank 
had  donned,  in  lieu  of  his  bright  pea-green  hunting- 
shirt,  a  dingy  fustian  shooting-jacket,  with  breeches  of 

1G5 


166  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

the  same  material ;  nay  !  he  had  even  concocted  some  dark- 
coloured  composition  witli  which  to  dim  the  bright  silver 
mountings  of  his  rifle.  Dolph  looked  at  him  for  a  moment 
with  one  of  his  grim  approving  smiles,  and  then  turned  to- 
ward Archer  with  a  wink  so  inexpressibly  ludicrous,  that 
he  could  not  restrain  himself,  but  burst  into  a  fit  of  obstre- 
perous mirth;  whereat  Frank,  wheeling  upon  the  culprits 
unexpectedly,  took  them  both  in  the  fact,  and  shaking  his 
fist  at  them  good-humoured ly — 

"  You  villains  !"  he  exclaimed,  "  what  deuced  trick  are 
you  playing  off  upon  me  now  1  Out  with  it,  instantly,  and 
I'll  forgive  you  ;  but  if  I  find  it  out  hereafter,  my  name  is 
not  Frank  Forester,  if  I  don't  pay  you  back,  with  interest." 

"  No  trick,  upon  my  honour,  Frank,"  replied  Archer. 
"  Nor  much  joke,  either,  for  that  matter.  At  least  what 
joke  there  was  is  past  and  over.  But  come,  let  us  get  into 
the  drag,  which  Timothy  has  got  at  the  door,  and  I'll  tell 
you  all  about  it  as  we  drive  to  the  bridge  over  the  Black 
Creek." 

"  Yes  I  yes  !"  said  Pierson,  who  had  resumed  all  his  ha 
bitual  gravity  ;  "  we've  got  no  time  to  lose,  for  it's  gittin' 
to  be  broad  day,  now,  and  we  should  be  in  the  woods  afore 
the  dew  's  off,  inyhow." 

Within  two  minutes,  one  of  which  was  consumed  in 
donning  upper  benjamins  and  lighting  pipes  or  manillas, 
according  to  the  various  tastes  of  the  sportsmen,  the  two 
friends  were  mounted  on  the  front  seat,  Dolph  and  Timothy 
occupying  that  in  the  rear.  The  horses  sprang  at  Harry's 
cheerful  whistle,  and  away  rattled  the  light  vehicle,  over 
the  well-made  limestone  road,  in  the  same  direction  which 
had  been  taken  by  Forester  and  Tom  Draw  on  the  previous 
morning. 

"  Now  then,  the  joke,  Harry  !"  said  Forester. 

"  Pshaw  1  it  was  mere  nonsense.  Dolph  wanted  to  put 
you  out  of  conceit  yesterday  with  your  fine  toggery  and 
brio-ht  gun-mountin2s,  and  I  beseed  him  not.  That's  all, 
upon  my  honour !" 

"That's  all,  upon  your  honour!  and  a  very  modest  all, 
too !  So  you  spoiled  my  day's  sport,  and  won  Tom's  bet, 
just  to  poke  fun  on  me !  By  Jove,  that's  too  bad  !  I 
should  not  have  expected  that,  at  your  hands  !"  and  Frank's 


IKE    DEERSTALKERS.  16? 

face  flushed  even  to  the  roots  of  his  hair,  as  he  spoke,  from 
very  anger. 

"  Nor  I  this  at  yours,  Forester,"  replied  Archer,  gravely. 
**  But  it  is  of  no  use  minding  what  you  say,  you  little  wasp. 
I  would  not  let  him  tell  you,  because  I  knew  right  well  thai 
if  your  costume  or  your  skill  in  woodcraft  were  attacked, 
you  would  defend  them,  like  Decatur,  right  or  wrong,  and 
wear  them,  to  the  ruin  of  your  sport,  for  a  week,  perhaps 
for  ever,  from  the  sheer  love  of  paradox.  Whereas,  by 
letting  you  alone,  I  knew  that  one  day's  experience  would 
teach  you  the  truth,  and  that  you  would  adopt  it,  as  you 
have  done.     I  think  it  was  the  friend's  part." 

"  By  gin !  that's  jest  what  he  telied  me,  Mr.  Forester,'* 
put  in  Dolph  Pierson,  "  and  jest  what  I  could  a'  telied  you, 
only  he's  worded  it  some  better  nor  I  could.  So  don't  be 
vexed  with  him,  noways." 

"  It  was  but  a  poor  compliment  to  my  reason,  at  all 
events,"  said  Forester,  who  had  been  too  much  discom- 
posed to  resume  his  equanimity  on  the  instant. 

"  But  a  very  good  one  to  your  aptitude  at  taking  hints 
from  experience,"  replied  Harry.  "  Come,  don't  be  sulky, 
old  boy  ;  between  you  and  me,  that  would  be  something 
too  inexpressibly  absurd." 

There  was  no  resisting  this  ;  so  Frank  gave  his  friend 
an  amicable  dig  in  the  ribs,  that  would  have  pretty  nearly 
knocked  the  wind  out  of  a  rhinoceros,  and  said,  "  All  right, 
old  fellow  ;  but  do  you  really  think  I  never  take  advice  ?'' 

"  f  think  that  if  you  did  you  would  be  a  prodigy.  I 
never  saw  a  man  who  asked  for  advice  until  he  had  made 
his  mind  fully  up  how  he  should  act,  at  all  events.  Now, 
you  had  not  asked  advice,  but  thought  you  knew,  as  you 
said  when  you  drove  poor  McTavish  ten  miles  above  the 
saw-mill  turn  to  Warwick,  responding  only  '  Don't  I 
know  V  to  all  his  suggestions  that  you  were  out  of  the  road, 
all  his  entreaties  that  you  would  inquire  vour  w^ay.  '  Don'l 
I  know  ?'  carried  you  that  night  to  Coffee's  Tavern,  in  the 
Cove,  when  you  would  surely  have  discovered  your  mistake 
at  the  bridge,  if  he  had  not  pointed  out  vour  err^r,  and  so 
roused  your  spirit  of  resistance  and  set  you  on  the  defensive, 
*  Don't  I  know?'  would  have  kept  vou  in  o-reen  and  silve 
118  .  o 


168  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

to-day,  if  1  had  let  Dolph  speak  to  you.     You  ought  to  be 
very  much  obliged  to  me,  for  now  you  do  know  !" 

"  And  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  ;  and,  faith  !  I 
believe,  after  all,  that  one  lesson  learned  of  that  hard 
teacher,  Experience,  is  better  than  a  dozen  from  that  soft 
persuader,  Good  Advice.  For  my  part,  I  only  hope  that 
you  will  always  stick  to  your  new  system ;  for  in  very 
deed  I  think  good  advisers  are  the  most  odious  persons  in 
the  universe." 

*'  I  will ;  depend  upon  it,  Frank.  So  far  at  all  events  as 
you  are  concerned.  I  made  my  mind  up  to  that  long 
enough  ago." 

"  Look  here,  Harry  ;  this  is  the  cottage,  I  spoke  of  to  you 
last  night,  that  we  are  just  coming  to,  on  the  right-hand  side. 
Cannot  you  frame  some  excuse  to  stop  ?  I  have  a  curiosity 
to  see  something  farther." 

"And  I.  Look  quietly  behind,and  see  if  Dolph's  pipe  is 
out ;  Timothy  is  not  smoking." 

"  It  is.  He  has  just  put  it  into  his  pouch,"  replied  Fo- 
rester, after  casting  a  furtive  glance  behind  him. 

"  And  I  threw  mine  away,  half  a  mile  back.  Drop  yours, 
as  if  by  accident,  get  out  another,  and  ask  Dolph  for  a  light; 
and,  as  I  know  he  has  got  no  flint  for  his  tinder,  apply  to 
me  in  the  second  place,  and  as  I  have  forgotten  my  matches, 
we  shall  have  to  pull  up  and  ask  for  what  Dolph  would 
term  a  coal  of  fire." 

No  sooner  said  than  done.  The  cigar  was  dropped  aa 
if  accidentally,  and  the  next  moment  Forester  took  out  his 
cigar-case,  selected  a  cheroot,  and,  turning  his  head  to  old 
Pierson,  said  aloud, 

"  Give  us  a  light,  old  fellow.     I  have  lost  mine." 

**  My  pipe  is  out  too,"  replied  the  old  hunter ;  *«  it  has 
not  been  alight  these  ten  minutes." 

"  Ah !  we  must  try  a  match,  then.  Come,  Harry,  out 
with  the  Lucifers,  lad  !" 

For  a  minute  or  two  Archer  affected  to  search  in  the 
various  pockets  of  his  great  box-coat  for  the  desired  match- 
case,  but  at  length,  with  a  negative  shake  of  the  head,  he 
made  answer — 

"  It  is  no  go.  Master  Frank.  I  have  forgotten  my  match- 
case  at  home  ;  and  a  devilish  stupid  forget  it  is  ;  for  I  don'i 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  169 

see  how  the  jilague  we  are  to  get  lights,  any  how.  No 
more  smoking  at  all  tor  this  day." 

"  1  never  ccm  stand  that,"  said  Frank  ;  "  I  can  as  well 
get  along  without  a  drink.  Oh  !  look  you,  here's  a  cot- 
tage, Harry;  pull  uj),  and  we'll  beg  for  a  light  there.  By 
Jove  !"  he  added,  as  if  he  had  been  surprised,  "  it  is  the 
place  where  the  pretty  woman  lives,  about  whom  we  were 
speaking." 

"  It  is  so,"  answered  Harry,  gravely.  "  Well,  we  will 
get  a  light ;  but  mark  me,  no  chaffing." 

"  Chaffing  !"  replied  Frank,  quickly,  "  I  should  think 
not  of  that,  indeed  ;  what  the  deuce  should  have  put  such 
a  thought  as  that  into  your  head  ?" 

"  You  know  you're  good  at  it  sometimes,  Frank,"  replied 
Archer,  wth  a  grave  smile.  "  But  don't  get  savage ;  I  did 
not  mean  to  offend  your  high  mightiness  I" 

And  as  he  spoke  he  pulled  up  the  horses  at  the  door  of 
the  cottage,  which  had  once  evidently  been  extremely  neat 
and  pretty,  with  a  portico  of  rustic  make,  all  overrun  with 
evergreens  and  flowery  creepers.  It  had,  however,  although 
still  comparatively  a  new  building,  already  fallen  into  par- 
tial decay,  and  exhibited  those  symptoms  by  which  a  keen 
observer  would  easily  judge  that  the  master  of  the  house 
was  a  drunkard,  or  the  mistress  a  slattern. 

"What  ails  you,  to  be  stoppin'  here,  Mister  Aircher?" 
asked  the  old  hunter  shortly,  and  in  a  tone  which  indicated 
anything  but  pleasure  at  the  occurrence;  "we  hain't  no 
business  here,  none  on  us — this  is  whar'  Harry  Barhyte 
lives,  as  I  telled  you  on." 

"  I  know  it,  Dolph,"  replied  Archer,  "  but  we  have  all 
lost  our  fire,  and  we  have  brought  no  matches  with  us, 
and  Frank  here  for  the  life  of  him  can't  walk  the  day 
through  without  smoking." 

"  There  won't  come  no  luck  on  it,  nohow,"  responded 
the  hunter.  "If  so  be  I'd  a  knowed  this,  I'd  a  brought 
you  by  the  other  road." 

"  Pshaw  !  nonsense  !"  replied  Archer;  "  what  harm  can 
conie  of  it,  any  way?  Halloa!"  he  added,  raising  his 
voice,  "  is  there  any  one  at  home  ?" 

Almost  as  quickly  as  he  spoke,  the  woman  came  to  the 
door.  She  was,  as  Frank  had  described  her  on  the  previo'is 


170  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

day,  a  singularly  beautiful,  and,  for  her  class  in  life,  a  singu- 
larly delicate-looking  creature,  with  a  quantity  of  soft  light 
brown  hair  falling  in  dishevelled,  and,  to  speak  the  truth, 
somewhat  disordered  masses  down  her  neck;  large  blue 
eyes;  a  fair  complexion ;  and  a  figure  of  slender  yet  sym- 
metrical proportion. 

For  all  this,  however,  her  appearance  and  the  impression 
she  produced  on  the  minds  of  the  young  men  were  the  very 
reverse  of  attractive  or  agreeable.  There  was  a  bold  eager 
look  in  her  eye  when  it  met  theirs  directly  that  struck  them 
as  immodest  and  offensive,  and  a  sidelong  glance  yet  more 
obnoxious,  as  she  lowered  her  lids  in  a  sort  of  affected  mo- 
desty as  Archer  addressed  her. 

Her  dress,  moreover,  was  unseemly,  at  least  when  viewed 
in  relation  to  her  place  of  abode  in  a  remote  rural  district 
amid  wild  mountains,  and  to  her  condition  in  life,  for  it  had 
been  originally  of  expensive  materials,  and  rather  tawdry 
colours,  and  had  been  fashioned  to  display  the  shape, and 
reveal  far  more  of  the  neck  and  bosom  than  is  usual  among 
country  maids  or  matrons. 

"  Pardon  us  for  troubling  you,  madam,"  said  Harry,  re- 
moving his  hunting-cap  ;  "  but  we  have  lost  our  light,  and 
called  to  see  if  you  would  have  the  goodness  to  let  us  have 
a  coal  of  your  fire  V 

"  No  trouble,  sir,  I  assure  you  !"  she  replied,  with  a  very 
pecuhar  glance,  and  a  still  more  peculiar  expression  of 
voice.  '*  I  shall  always  be  too  glad  to  oblige  you  in  any- 
thing which  you  can  ask  me." 

And,  without  waiting  for  an  answer,  she  tripped  into  the 
house,  and  returned  almost  instantly,  bearing  in  the  tongs 
a  piece  of  a  blazing  brand  of  wood,  which  she  handed  to 
Archer,  who  passed  it  over  to  Frank,  and,  as  if  in  reply  to 
her  last  speech,  said,  in  a  friendly  familiar  voice, 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  recollect  me,  Mrs.  Barhyte, 
for  it  is  a  very  long  time  since  you  sat  on  my  knee  when 
you  were  pretty  little  Mary  Marten.  I  fancied  you  must 
have  quite  forgotten  me." 

"  I  do  not  forget  so  easily,  Mr.  Archer,"  returned  the 
woman,  with  the  same  disagreeable  sidelong  look — "  ymi, 
especially  ;"  and  then,  as  if  aware  that  she  had  gone  some- 
ihino-  too  far,  she  hesitated  a  moment  or  two,  and  added — 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  171 

"  for  those  were  very  happy  days  ;  and,  whatever  folks  may 
say  about  it,  I  think  that  it  is  easier  to  forget  sorrow  than 
happiness." 

"  It  is  a  merciful  gift  of  Providence  that  it  is  so,"  replied 
Archer,  gravely.  "  But  I  am  sorry  to  hear  you  speak  as 
if  you  were  not  happy.  I  was  quite  glad  when  I  heard 
you  were  married  to  Harry  Barhyte,  Mary,  and  thought  it 
such  a  nice  match.  For  you  were  ahvays  quite  a  pet  of 
mine,  and  he  was  mv  friend — a  man  I  was  'proud  to  call 
my  friend,"  he  added  with  marked  emphasis. 

"That  was  when  he  was  his  own  friend.  Mi  Archer," 
replied  the  woman,  a  little  sharply. 

"  And  is  he  not  so,  now  ?" 

"  He  is  very  much  changed  ;  very  much,  since  you  knew 
him,  sir." 

"Ay!  is  he?"  cried  the  old  hunter  sternly,  and  with 
more  vehemence  than  he  was  wont  to  exhibit ;  "  but  what 
changed  him?  Tell  us  that,  Mary  Barhyte — tell  us  what 
changed  him  ?" 

The  woman  blushed  fiery  red,  from  the  very  roots  of  her 
hair  to  the  edge  of  her  dress,  and  drooped  her  eyes  and 
kept  silence,  abashed  and  humbled. 

In  her  eagerness  to  coquette  wirh  the  two  gay  young  men 
who  sat  on  the  front  seat,  she  had  not  spared  a  glance  to 
the  inferior  personages  behind,  and  consequently  had  not 
discovered  the  pn^sonce  of  Dolph  Pierson. 

"And  v/here  is  Harry  Barhyte,  now?"  said  Archer;  who 
while  observing  everything  closely,  had  pretended  to  be  en- 
gaged solely  in  lighting  his  cheroot.  "  1  should  like  to  see 
him,  before  I  leave  the  country." 

"  He  is  out  with  his  rifle  after  deer,"  she  said,  raisinof  her 
eyes  agam  to  Archer's,  with  a  half  look  of  invitation  ;  "I 
scarce  know  wliich  way  he  is  gone.  I  think  he  said  toward 
the  Eagle  Rock.  But  if  you  call  in  after  dark  this  evening, 
you'll  be  pretty  like  to  find  him." 

"  And  is  Ned  Wheeler  away  with  him,  too?"  asked  the 
old  hunter,  with  a  peculiar  intonation. 

"  What  would  I  know  about  Ned  Wheeler?"  she  asked, 
very  angrily,  instead  of  answering  directly ;  but  then, 
after  a  moment's  pause,  as  if  something  flashed  upon  hor 
mind,  she  added,  quickly  :  "  No,  he  is  not  away  with  him  ; 


172  THE     DEERSTALKERS. 

Henry's  been  gone  since  daylight,  and  Ned  passed  the  door, 
with  his  gun  in  his  hand,  not  ten  minutes  since ;  you'll 
overtake  him,  I  reckon." 

^'Passed  the  door,  did  he? — he  don't  often  do  that,  doos 
he,  Mary  ?" 

*'  I  told  him  Henry  wasn't  in," 

"  Hum-hum  !  and  that  was  the  cause  why  he  passed  it, 
hey  ?  I'd  a  thought  now  as  he'd  likely  a  corned  in  and  sot 
R  spell,  to  git  a  light  for  his  pipe  like,  or  a  drink — " 

"We  don't  keep  no  drink  here,  Mr.  Pierson  ;  and  you 
know  that  as  well  I  do." 

"  I  don't  know  nothen  on  the  airth  about  it,  nor  don't 
warn't  to,  Mary.  You  can't  say  as  I  iver  was  inside  your 
doors." 

"  Nor  I  don't  wont  to  see  you  there !"  she  replied  almost 
fiercely,  with  a  gleam  of  flashing  anger  in  her  bold  eyes  ; 
but  then  turning  to  Harry,  "  but  you,  sir,  I  shall  be  glad 
to  see  at  any  time ;  and  so  will  Henry,  for  he  speaks  of 
you  very  often." 

"  I  thank  you  ;  I  will  call  if  I  do  not  meet  him  to-day. 
Good-morning  to  you  !"  and  once  more  touching  his  cap, 
he  gave  his  good  steeds  their  head,  and  away  they  bowled 
up  the  road  toward  the  base  of  the  wooded  hills  that  tow- 
ered above  them  in  huge  billow-swells  of  many-coloured 
foliage. 

They  had  driven  perhaps  a  couple  of  miles  at  a  slashing 
trot,  not  holding  much  conversation  among  themselves,  for 
the  past  interview  had  set  them  all  to  thinking  pretty  deeply, 
and  a  sort  of  inexplicable  gloom  hung  over  the  whole 
party,  when  they  overtook  a  tall  slouching  shambling- 
gaited  fellow,  carrying  a  long  rifle  in  his  hand,  and  pro- 
ceeding in  the  same  direction  with  themselves. 

"  Who  have  we  here,  Dolph  ?"  asked  Archer,  who  having 
his  eye  well  forward  on  the  road,  was  the  first  to  catch 
sight  of  him. 

"  Black  Ned  !  don't  you  see  how  he  snoops  along,  like 
no  honest  man  would?" 

Harry  smiled  at  the  rough  hunter's  attributing  the  trick 
of  the  man's  gait,  the  result  probably  of  the  wound  to  which 
he  had  himself  alluded,  to  certain  mental  qualities;  but 
knowing  the  uselessness  of  arguing  such  points  with  one 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  178 

at  the  same  time  so  single-minded  and  so  prejudiced    as 
Pierson,  he  made  no  reply. 

A  moment  afterward,  however,  as  he  ran  alongside  of 
the  stranger,  he  checked  his  horses  for  the  instant,  partly 
to  observe  liis  features,  and  partly  to  gain  some  infoimation. 

The  first  were  villanous  enough  ;  a  low,  receding  hrovs-, 
parti;il1y  overshadowed  by  tangled  elf-locks  of  uncombed 
black  hair,  a  broken-backed  hawk  nose,  a  pair  of  keen, 
running,  cruel,  dov/n-looking  black  eyes,  a  thin-lipped, 
compressed  mouth,  wifh  a  constant  stream  of  tobacco-juice 
oozing  from  its  corners.  He  had  not  turned  his  head  to 
see  v/ho  were  the  new-comers,  though  the  clattering  trot  of 
such  a  team,  and  the  even  roll  of  such  a  vehicle,  were 
sounds  most  unfamiliar  to  any  ear  in  that  tract  of  country, 
nor  did  he  now  raise  his  eyes  as  the  horses  shot  past  him, 
and  immediately  moderated  their  speed  under  the  guidance 
of  a  master  hand. 

"  Mister  Wheelpr,  I  believe  ?" 

"  Ned  Wheeler  is  my  name  ;  but  I  don't  know  yourn,  no 
how,"  was  the  surly  answer. 

"  Mine  is  Archer,"  replied  the  young  man  ;  "  but  that 
will  not  help  you.  I  heard  you  were  before  us  on  the 
range,  and  as  we  shall  pass  you  with  our  horses,  I  thought 
it  fair  to  inquire,  as  you  have  the  start,  which  side  of  the 
road  you  mean  to  hunt ;  I  would  not  wish  to  interfere  with 
any  man." 

"Well,  that's  fnir,  anyhow,"  answered  the  other,  though 
he  looked  as  if  he  half  suspected  a  trap.  "I  did  think  as 
Vd  drive  over  to  the  right  hereaways,  toward  the  black 
swamp  in  the  Indian  holler.  Harry  Barhyte,  he's  gone 
along  the  top  to  the  Eagle  Rock,  and  so  he'll  be  sendin' the 
deer  down  to  the  swamp,  I  reckons." 

"  We  will  keep  to  the  left,  then,"  said  Archer.  "  Good- 
morning !" 

And  away  he  drove,  at  the  same  slapping  pace  as  before. 

"Now,  if  I  might  be  so  bold,  Mister  Aircher,"  said  the 
hunter,  who  had   maintained  a  dogged  silence  during  the 
whole  of  this  brief  colloquy,  "  I'd  be  right  well   pleased 
anvwavs,  to  know  whv  vou  did  that  'ere?" 

"  Did  what,  Dolph  ?"  ' 


174  THE    LEERSTALKERS. 

"  Spoke  to  that  ere  darned  scoundrel  at  all,  fust---and 
next,  guv  him  his  chice  of  beats." 

"  I  wanted  to  look  at  him,  first,  Dolph  !" 

"You  must  be  tartial  fond  ot' seein'  humly  sights,  then," 
replied  Pierson.  "  You'd  be  hard  set,  I  guess,  to  find  a 
humlier  picter  atween  this  and  York." 

"He  is  most  villanously  ugly,  of  a  truth,"  said  Harry, 
musing.  "  And  is  it  possible  that  handsome  creature  pre- 
fers this  vile,  low-bred,  hideous  brute,  to  so  gallant  and 
tight  a  lad  as  Harry  Barhyte  V 

"  Wimen  goes  preUy  much  l)y  contraries,"  replied  Pier- 
son.  "Them  as  is  good  to  them, they  behaves  wust  to;  and 
them  as  conducts  wust  to  them,  they  niver  can  love  hard 
enough.  But  Harry's  e'ena'most  as  bad  as  Ned  be,  now. 
But  why  give  him  his  chice  of  ground?" 

"  I  had  my  reason  for  that,  too,  Dolph." 

"  So  I  'xpect — most  men  has  some  reason  for  all  the 
darned  things  they  do — leastwise  they  thinks  they  has,  and 
that's  a'most  the  same  thing.  But  I'd  like  to  know  what 
yourn  mought  'a  bin." 

"I  wanted  to  be  sure  whither  Barhyte  has  gone;  and 
v/hether  this  dog  was  going  to  join  him." 

"  And  do  you  reckon  you're  sure  now  7" 

"  Pretty  sure  that  Barhyte  has  gone  to  the  Eagle  R<^ck. 
Where  is  the  Eagle  Rock,  Dolph  ?" 

"  Right  stret  ahead  on  us,  up  the  big  hill  yonder.  You 
see  them  big  black  pines  up  three-parts  to  the  top,"  he 
added,  pointing  with  his  hands ;  "  well,  it  is  right  over 
them,  jist  high  enough  that  you  can  see  clear  over  the  tops 
on  'cm." 

"  Is  it  good  laying  ground  for  deer,  now  ?" 

"  None  in  the  whole  range  better.  All  along  there  the 
mountain  side  is  full  of  springs,  and  the  sile's  moist,  and 
the  fern  grows  up  four  and  six  feet  high.  'Tain't  such 
very  bad  walking  nuther,  for  it's  in  sort  of  terraces,  one  above 
another,  pretty  level  like." 

"  Well,  if  you  think  it  good,  Dolph,  we'll  bear  off  here  a 
mile  or  so  to' the  left,  that  I  may  keep  my  word  with  that 
scoundrel,  and  then  we'll  strike  right  up  the  crags,  and 
beat  those  terraces  you  speak  of  to  the  eastward.  Will 
that  suit  you  ?" 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  175 

"Bravely,"  answered  the  hunter,  "though  we  shan't 
see  nothin'  in  the  bottom.  But  a  mile  off  to  the  left  there's 
a  grand  waterfall  comes  down  the  hill  in  a  sort  of  gorge 
we  can  climb  pretty  easy,  and  oncet  up,  thar's  three  terraces, 
one  right  above  the  other;  so  there'll  be  just  one  for  each 
on  us,  within  hailin'  distance." 

"  All  right,  then.  How  much  farther  have  we  to  go, 
Dolph?" 

"  One  mile  to  the  Old  Mill  corner." 

"  Look  back.  Forester,  and  see  what  that  scamp  is  doing  ; 
the  road  is  so  straight,  he  must  be  in  sight  still," 

"  He  is  just  turning  into  the  covert  to  the  right-hand,'* 
said  Frank.  "  What  the  devil  do  you  care  about  the  brute 
for?" 

"  That's  more  than  I  can  tell  you.  Master  Frank  ;  but 
some  how  or  other  I've  a  fancy  that  something's  going  to 
happen  out  of  the  common  way  to-day.  It's  all  infernal 
stuff,  I  know ;  for  Heaven  be  thanked,  I  am  not  in  the  least 
superstitious,  nor  do  I  believe  in  presentiments  ;  but  I  cannot 
get  it  out  of  my  head  that  something  horrible  is  in  the  wind, 
and  that  this  fellow  Wheeler  is  at  the  bottom  of  it.  It  hangs 
over  me  like  a  black  cloud.  I  never  felt  so  in  my  life 
before." 

"  I  should  think  not,"  said  Forester  laughing ;  "  nor  I 
neither.  If  I  were  you,  I'd  take  a  good  pull  at  the  Ferin- 
tosh,  and  feel  so  no  more." 

"  I  don't  know  but  you're  right,  Frank  ;  ^nd  here  we  are 
at  the  Old  Mill,  so  while  Tim  is  getting  out  the  traps  I'll 
follow  your  advice." 

"  What  you  say  right  is  very  true;  so'll  I,"  said  Forester, 
and  incontinently  they  both  imbibed  moderately;  but  when 
Dolph  was  invited  to  follow  suit,  he  shook  his  head  gravely, 
and  made  answer  solemnly — 

"  A  warnin'  is  a  warnin",  and  shouldn't  niver  be  made 
light  of,  no  how.  I  dreamed  of  nothin'  else  but  blood  all 
night,  and  I  thought  when  I  riz  up  this  mornin'  that  blood 
there  would  be;  but  now  that  Aircher's  got  a  warnin'  tew, 
I'm  sure  on't.      God  send  it  mayn't  be  some  of  us." 

Forester  stared  at  the  man  in  nuite  admiration.  At  first 
he  thought  he  was  jesting,  then  he  began  to  imagine  that 
he  had  gone  mad,  but  there  was  as  little  of  insanity  in  the 


176  THE    DEERSTALKERS, 

clear  steady  gaze  of  the  blue  eye  as  there  was  of  mirth  on 
the  unbending  lip. 

The  old  man  met  his  inquiring  glance  with  an  ominous 
shake  of  the  head,  and  then  applied  himself  to  load  his 
heavy  rifle,  without  saying  a  word. 

Forester  was  on  the  point  of  bursting  into  a  furious  fit 
of  laughter,  when  Harry  touched  his  elbow,  with  a  warning 
glance,  and  said,  "  Come,  Frank,  we're  on  the  ground  ;  you 
had  better  load  your  rifle." 

"  Ay  !  ay  !   Harry." 

"  And  you,  Timothy,  drive  the  horses  on  to  the  foot  of 
the  hill,  and  bear  away  one  mile  to  the  left ;  there's  an  old 
charcoal-burner's  shanty  there,  where  you  can  bait  the 
prads,  and  get  your  ov.n  prog,  and  wait  for  us.  Is  not 
that  right,  Dolph  ?" 

"  Right,  Mr.  Aircher  1" 

"  Now  then,  all  ready  !" 

"  Ready  !"  cried  Frank,  and  the  old  hunter  nodded  his 
quiet  assent,  and  all  three  plunged  together  into  the  ever- 
green hemlock  covert  to  the  left  hand  of  the  road. 

It  was  heavy  and  toilsome  walking  in  itself,  for  the 
ground  was  a  deep  vegetable  loam,  and  the  frost  not  having 
had  sufficient  force  to  consolidate  it — for  it  was  much 
water-logged  from  innumerable  small  springs  and  runs — 
though  it  had  crusted  over  an  inch  at  the  top,  the  foot 
broke  in  at  every  step  nearly  ankle  deep  in  the  miry  loam. 

Add  to  this  that  the  greater  part  of  this  flat  at  the  base 
of  the  mountain  was  overspread  with  dense  thickets  of  hem- 
lock and  white  cedar  saplings,  between  the  stems  of  which 
it  was  a  work  of  actual   labour  and  difficulty  to  force  the 

body. 

The  single  mile  which  they  had  to  traverse,  therefore, 
before  they  reached  the  course  of  a  large  powerful  rapid 
brook,  bringing  down  a  great  force  of  perfectly  clear  ice- 
cold  water,  flowing  here  over  a  broad  pebbly  bed  in  a  shal- 
low current,  occupied  them  full  two  hours,  incredible  as  it 
may  seem  to  those  who  have  never  fought  their  way  through 
a  cedar  brake,  in  which  there  is  neither  path  nor  runway. 
And  when  they  reached  its  margin,  although  the  day  was 
clear  and  sharp,  the  sweat  was  dropping  from  the  brows 
of  Forester  and  Archer  as  if  it   had  been  in  the  dog-days, 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  177 

and  even  old  Pierson  himself,  moulded  as  he  was  of  cast- 
iron,  was  flushed  and  blown  with  the  fatigue. 

All  three  were  glad  to  lie  down  for  half  an  hour  on  the 
mossy  margin  of  the  water  to  rest  them  before  climbing 
the  hill,  and  this  time  Pierson  did  not  refuse  his  share  of 
the  moderate  cup.  Then  Harry's  match-box  having  been 
discovered  in  an  unusual  pocket,  all  the  three  smoked  a 
quiet  pipe,  and  that  done,  arose,  refreshed  and  ready  for  a 
steep  mountain  scramble. 

Ten  minutes'  walk  thereafter  brought  them  to  the  mouth 
of  the  gorge  in  the  hills  whence  the  stream  issued  ;  and 
just  before  they  reached  it,  Dolph  whispered  to  the  two 
young  men  to  have  their  pieces  ready,  for  that  the  cataract 
was  close  at  hand,  just  round  the  first  angle  in  the  path, 
and  that  there  was  often  a  chance  of  a  shot  there,  when  the 
run  was  well  up,  as  it  was  at  this  time,  the  deer  coming 
down  to  the  cool  water  to  avoid  the  pursuit  of  the  torment- 
ing flies. 

The  gorge  itself  was  bold  and  fine,  the  stream  rushing 
out  in  a  broad  sheet  of  snow-white  foam  between  two  great 
gray  limestone  rocks,  which  towered  on  either  side  to  the 
height  of  at  least  a  liundred  feet,  crowned  with  feathery 
crests  of  hemlock,  forming  in  this  place  the  first  step  of  the 
mountain  ridge  which  soared  away,  clothed  to  the  very  top 
with  forests,  well  nigh  three  thousand  feet  in  air. 

Following  the  motions  of  the  wary  forester,  the  sports- 
men entered  the  pass,  th ridding  a  narrow  ledge  of  rock 
which  ran  like  an  abutment  along  the  base  of  the  moun- 
tain wall,  elevated  only  a  few  inches  above  the  whirling 
foam-flakes. 

Within,  the  goro;e  wheeled  directly  to  the  right,  and 
along  the  right-hand  side  they  stole  carefully,  with  their 
fore-fingers  on  the  triggers  of  their  rifles,  holding  their 
breaths  in  the  intensity  of  their  eaoerness,  and  feelins  their 
hearts  knocking  hard  against  their  bosoms. 

Two  more  steps  brought  them  to  the  angle;  and  facing 
them,  as  the  gorge  wheeled  again  upward  to  the  left  at 
eome  fifty  yards  distance,  thundered  the  foaming  waterfall. 
It  was  indeed  a  grand  and  striking  scene;  for,  aUhough  the 
height  was  inconsiderable,  not  exceeding  fifty  ftet,  the  vo- 
liHTje  of  water  was  considerable,  and  the  fall,  dashing  on  a 


*.78  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

flat  rock  at  the  foot,  flung  oif  a  glancing  sheet  of  broken 
water  in  all  directions,  like  the  fragments  of  a  crystal  mir- 
ror. The  accessories  too  of  the  wild  scene,  the  black 
rocks,  the  richly  feathered  evergreens,  relieved  by  the 
M'hite  spray,  and  illuniinatcd  by  one  stray  sunbeam  which 
fell  almost  perpendicularly  on  the  very  shoot  of  the  fall, 
were  all  perfect  in  their  colouring  and  keeping.  Add  to 
this  that  the  roar  of  the  fall,  reduplicated  by  the  echoes  of 
that  enclosed  amphitheatre,  boomed  with  ten  times  the 
majesty  of  sound  which  the  same  cascade  would  have 
emitted  in  an  open  space. 

Short  time,  however,  had  they  to  gaze  at  that  moment 
on  the  wonders  or  the  beauties  of  the  spot ;  for  there,  on 
the  very  summit  of  the  cataract  itself,  upon  a  crag  which 
split  the  falling  waters  into  two  parts,  although  at  a  few 
feet  below  they  joined  again  and  descended  in  one  common 
volume,  there  stood  as  fine  a  hart  as  ever  gladdened  the 
eye  of  deerstalker. 

The  noble  animal  was  gazing  up  the  glen  as  Forester 
and  Harry  entered  the  amphitheatre  below  him,  and  con- 
sequently saw  nothing  of  his  enemies,  whose  footsteps  were 
drowned  by  the  roar  of  the  fall,  while  the  taint  of  their 
presence  was  swept  away  from  him  by  the  rush  of  cool  air 
from  the  water. 

"  Hist !  hist !"  whispered  the  hunter  in  low  tones. 

"  Now,  Frank,''  said  Archer  in  his  ear,  and  with  an  eye 
glistening  with  excitement,  he  raised  the  light  Manton  rifle 
to  his  eye,  took  a  quick  aim,  and  drew  the  trigger. 

Simultaneously  with  the  crack  and  flash  of  the  piece,  the 
noble  animal  made  a  quick  involuntary  plunge,  and  the  soft 
thud  of  the  ball,  as  it  struck  him,  reached  the  ears  of  the 
sportsmen. 

He  turned  his  soft  liquid  eyes  towards  his  foemen,  with 
a  hoarse,  plaintive  bleat,  and  gathered  his  slender  sinewy 
limbs  to  spring  across  the  channel  of  the  fall ;  but  ere  he 
had  time  to  rise,  Harry's  unerring  weapon  flashed,  for  he 
saw  that,  although  Frank's  ball  had  taken  effect,  the  wound 
was  not  mortal. 

The  heavy  ounce  ball  clove  his  heart  asunder,  and  in  the 
very  act  of  leaping,  he  fell  dead  upon  the  very  summit  of 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  179 

the  cataract,  nnd  the  next  instant  was  swept  down  by  the 
tumultuous  waters  to  the  very  feet  of  his  conquerors. 

The  sharp  crack  of  the  rifle-shots,  in  that  deep  rock- 
bound  chasm,  bellowed  almost  like  the  roar  of  ordnance, 
and  soaring  upward  were  repeated  by  the  mountain  tops, 
each  after  each,  till  they  died  away  in  the  far  distance,  but 
not  till  they  had  reached  the  ears  of  a  man  who  stood  on 
the  lower  ridges  of  the  same  chain  of  hills  at  about  one 
mile's  distance  eastward  of  the  Eagle  Rock. 

It  was  no  other  than  Ned  Wheeler,  who,  notwithstand- 
ino^  his  assertion  that  he  was  about  to  beat  the  level  ground 
along  the  base  of  the  hills,  had  ascended  the  slope  at  once, 
and,  having  wandered  so  far  as  to  the  first  terrace  of  the 
mountain,  was  leaning  on  his  rifle  and  listening  eagerly  for 
some  sound  which  should  indicate  to  him  the  whereabout 
of  the  party,  which — strange  to  say — he  held  in  deadly 
apprehension. 

A  fierce  smile  illuminated  his  villanous  features  with  a 
sinister  light,  as  he  heard  the  often  re-echoed  shots,  and  he 
muttered  between  his  teeth,  "Ah  !  that  will  do,  that  will  do  ! 
They  have  shot  a  deer  in  the  Devil's  Hollow  !  Now,  they 
will  bear  off"  to  the  left.  What  fools  them  darned  gentle- 
men, as  they  calls  themselves,  be  !  They're  far  enough  now, 
anyways  ;  and  I  mifst  hurry,  or  I'll  sca'ce  be  in  time." 

And  with  the  words  he  threw  his  rifle  to  the  trail,  and, 
hurrying  up  the  mountain  side,  made  the  best  of  his  way 
toward  the  Eagle  Rock. 

Meanwhile  our  party  also,  having  gralloched  the  hart 
which  they  had  slain,and  hoisted  him  up  into  the  branches  of 
a  tall  hemlock  which  shot  out  of  a  crevice  at  the  foot  of  the 
fall,  set  themselves  to  climb  the  rocky  path  by  the  cata- 
ract's edge,  and  soon  gaining  the  three  terraces  mentioned 
by  Dolph,  took  each  his  own  line,  Harry  following  the  top- 
most, which,  as  Pierson  informed  him,  would  lead  him 
direct  to  the  often-mentioned  rock,  Dolph  taking  the  next 
below  hiin,  and  Forester  pursuing  the  lowest. 
^  Those  terraces  were  in  fact  irregular  slopes  on  the  hill 
side,  comparatively  level,  but  still  descending  at  a  consi- 
derable angle  to  the  southward,  each  bounded  by  a  sheer 
step  or  cliff  of  shaly  limestone  rock,  varying  from  ten  to 
fifty  feet  in  height,  below  which  lav  the  next  in  succession. 


180  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

These  slopes  were  in  some  places  two  hundred  yards  in 
width,  in  some  less  than  fifty,  but  all  three  were  covered 
with  a  dense  growth  ot" gigantic  fern,  interspersed  here  with 
swales  of  soft  rich  green  grass,  and  there  with  patches  of 
winteroreen  and  cranberries,  or  with  thickets  of  calmia, 
rhododendron,  and  azalia.  Overhead  they  were  canopied 
by  the  many-coloured  foliage  of  the  huge  forest  trees,  and 
above  the  topmost  terrace,  to  Archer's  left  hand,  as  he  was 
wending  his  way  eastward,  the  mountain  rose  abrupt,  steep, 
and  stony,  and  clothed  for  the  most  part  with  a  dense 
growth  of  evergreens. 

Along  these  terraces  they  made  their  way  slowly,  com- 
municating from  time  to  time  one  with  the  other,  so  as  to 
keep  all  in  accurate  line,  watching  every  brake,  surveying 
the  bark  of  every  gray  trunk  against  which  the  wild  deer 
mio-ht  have  frayed  their  antlers,  gathering  tokens  from 
every  turned  leaf,  whether  the  wild  cattle  of  the  hills  had 
passed  in  their  direction — but  in  vain.  No  sign  met  their 
eyes  ;  and  they  had  traversed  half  the  distance  to  the  rock, 
when  the  sharp  crack  of  a  rifle  was  heard  in  the  woods 
ahead  of  them. 

"  Hist !  Dolph  !"  cried  Harry,  springing  to  the  verge  of 
the  terrace,  "  where  was  that  shot  fired  f 

"  Within  two  rod  of  the  Eagle  Rock, or  my  ears  beant 
what  they  used  to  be." 

"  It  must  be  Harry  Barhvte?" 

"Likely." 

"  Let's  on.     I  want  to  speak  wdth  him." 

Onward  they  went  then,  quickening  their  pace  a  little, 
and  neglecting  many  of  those  precautions,  which  they  had 
previously  taken  to  discover  the  game  of  which  they  were 
in  pursuit ;  for,  though  he  said  little,  it  was  evident  that  there 
was  something  on  Archer's  mind  that  day  far  different  from 
the  mere  killing  of  red  deer,  and  that  he  had  resolved  on 
some  course  with  regard  to  Barhyte,  whom  he  regarded  as 
the  saviour  of  his  life. 

Before  they  reached  the  Eagle  Rock,  however,  while  they 
were  all  walking  each  on  his  own  line  at  the  rate  of  perhaps 
three  miles  and'a  half  an  hour,  a  brace  of  fine  does  bounced 
suddenly  out  of  the  long  fern,  scarce  thirty  yards  ahead 
of  Archer,  and  bounded  across  his  face  down  the  mountain 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  181 

side.  With  the  speed  of  light  he  tossed  the  heavy  rifle  to  his 
shoulder,  shouting  as  he  did  so,  "  Mark  deer !  Dolph, 
ma-ark  !"  and  his  shout  was  followed  by  the  quick-succeed- 
ing crack. of  both  his  barrels,  fired  one  after  the  other. 

The  first  doe  sprang  six  feet  into  the  air,  and  fell  dead 
before  she  had  made  six  bounds  from  the  brake  whence  she 
had  started,  but  the  second  had  crossed  the  little  terrace 
and  was  springing  down  the  crag,  at  that  place  not  above 
ten  feet  in  descent,  when  he  fired,  so  that  he  overshot  her. 

"  Now,  Dolph  !"  he  shouted,  "  it's  your  turn ;  give  it  her, 
old  fellow  !" 

But  instead  of  the  report  of  the  rifle,  the  sharp  explosion 
of  a  cap  alone  was  heard,  followed  by  a  stifled  execration, 
and  then, 

"  Hilloh  !  Look  out.  Forester." 

A  shot  followed,  and  a  loud  whoop  from  that  worthy, 
who  had  at  length  pinned  a  deer,  after  two  day's  hard 
walking. 

"  Look  here,  Dolph,"  cried  Archer,  as  he  looked  down 
upon  the  hunter,  who  was  coolly  recapping  his  gun.  "  I 
wish  you'd  come  up  and  bleed  this  doe  for  me,  and  tnen 
follow  me  as  quickly  as  you  can ;  I'm  afraid  I  shall  miss 
Barhyte." 

"  All  right,  Aircher,"  answered  the  old  hunter,  looking 
up  earnestly  in  the  young  man's  face ;  "  I'd  like  you  to  see 
him.  For  it's  fit  he  should  know,  and  you'll  tell  him  stret 
and  easily  at  oncet." 

Harry  nodded  gravely,  and  hurried  on,  loading  his  rifle 
as  he  went ;  and  scarcely  had  he  done  so,  before  the  gray 
rifled  precipice  with  a  table  rock  on  the  summit,  and  a 
small  glade  of  smooth  grassy  land  at  its  base,  below  which 
grew  on  the  declivity  of  the  mountain  a  dense  grove  of  giant 
pines,  rose  full  in  view  before  him. 

He  had  never  been  on  the  spot  before,  yet  was  there  no 
possibility  of  mistaking  it.  For,  if  the  scene  had  not  spoken 
for  itself,  there  on  the  summit  of  a  tall  white-oak  which 
shot  a  hundred  feet  heavenward  above  the  hoary  rock,  was 
the  immemorial  nest  of  the  bald-headed  eagle. 

Archer  looked  around  him  eagerly,  as  if  he  had  hop'  1 
to  find  some  one  at  that  very  place,  so  strongly  had  his 
imaojination  acted  on  him.     But,  seeing-  nothinq-  like  a  hu- 


182  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

man  form,  he  half  smiled  at  his  own  credulity,  and,  bending 
his  eyes  downward,  began  to  search  for  the  track  of  the 
man  he  souo;ht,  on  the  moist  soil  of  the  little  mountain 
meadow. 

He  had  not  taken  twenty  paces,  however,  before  he 
started  back,  as  pale  as  death,  in  ghastly  horror. 

For  there,  directly  in  front  of  the  Eagle  rock,  flat  on  his 
back,  with  his  grim  unshaven  face,  and  wide  staring  eyes, 
and  a  small  gory  spot  in  the  centre  of  his  forehead,  all 
turned  heavenward,  rigid  and  cold  as  the  earth  on  which 
he  lay,  was  the  man  whom  he  sought — Harry  Barhyte. 

So  awful  and  appalling  was  the  intonation  of  the  shout 
which  burst  from  Archer's  lips  at  this  discovery,  that  Fo- 
rester and  Dolph  Pierson  were  convinced,  as  it  struck  their 
ears,  that  something  fearful  had  occurred;  and,  leaving  the 
deer  unbroken,  they  came  rushing  up  at  full  speed,  Frank 
leading  in  the  race,  breathless  and  blown,  and  found  their 
comrade  pale  as  the  corpse  itself,  yet  noting  all  the  circum- 
stances with  the  precision  and  self-composure  of  a  calm 
brave  man. 


CHAPTER  X. 

WOODCRAFT  AND  EVIDENCE. 

The  body  lay,  as  I  have  said,  flat  on  its  back,  with  the 
head  down  hill,  and  the  feet  toward  the  gray  crag  above. 
The  left  hand  was  firmly  clinched,  but  the  right  was  wide 
open.  It  was  evident,  in  an  instant,  that  the  fatal  shot  had 
slain  him  outright,  for  not  a  blade  of  grass  was  disturbed 
around  him ;  he  lay,  as  he  had  fallen,  as  he  had  died,  un» 
convulsed,  and  without  a  struggle. 

He  must  have  been  standing,  therefore,  with  his  face  to- 
ward the  rock,  when  the  shot  took  effect  which  slew  him. 

When  Forester  and  Pierson  came  up,  Harry  was  stand- 
ing close  to  the  corpse  with  a  small  note-book  and  a  pencil 
in  his  hand ;  five  minutes'  had  perhaps  elapsed  since  he 
uttered  that  wild  shout,  and  neither  of  the  new-comers  were 
aware  that  he  had  stirred  from  the  spot. 

*'  Good  God  !"  exclaimed  Forester,  "  who  is  this '^  ' 

"  Harry  Barhyte !"  cried  Dolph,  "  sure's  my  name's 
Pierson.     Well — well !  my  dream's  out !" 

"  Have  a  care,"  cried  Archer,  sharply,  as  Frank  began 
to  move  restlessly  about.  "  Don't  stir^^f  step.  This  ground 
has  got  to  be  searched,  step  by  step." 

The  hunter,  who  had  just  picked  up  a  long  rifle  wuich 
lay  on  the  grass  beside  the  body,  and  was  examining  it  with 
a  jealous  eye,  looked  quickly  up  to  Archer's  face,  as  if  to 
catch  his  meaning.  But  all  there  was  blank  and  inscrutable. 

Again  he  looked  to  the  rifle,  the  hammer  of  which  was 
down  on  the  nipple,  with  the  cap  recently  exploded  ;  drew 
the   ramrod,   tried   the   barrel,  and   finding  it  discharged, 

119  163 


194  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

shook  his  head,  saying  :  "  No,  no,  Aircher,  'tain't  no  use 
sarching;  he's  done  it  his  own  self.  God  send  it  was  by 
accident,  but  I  doubt  it,  sorely. '^ 

"  He  did  it  not  himself,  Dolph  Pierson,"  replied  Archer, 
solemnly,  "either  by  accident  or  intent." 

"It's  his  own  rifle — fresh  fired,  Aircher — there  hain't 
ben  but  orie  shot  fired  since  we  came  on  the  range,  and 
that's  two  hours,  if  it's  a  minnit,  except  those  we  fired.  The 
poor  lad's  warm  vet.  Sure  as  death  the  shot  we  heard  did 
the  deed  !" 

"  True,  every  syllable,"  said  Archer  ;  "  yet  he  did  it  not 
— that  is  certain,"  and  as  he  spoke,  he  closed  the  book,  in 
which  he  had  made  several  memoranda,  and  returned  it  to 
his  pocket. 

"  Are  you  in  earnest,  Harry  ?"  asked  Forester,  all  whose 
mercurial  spirits  and  quick  Hie  had  passed  from  him  at 
that  dread  sight. 

"In  earnest  I"  exclaimed  Archer,  half  indignant  at  the 
question  ;  "  in  most  solemn  and  dread  earnest !" 

"  He  must  be  right,  then,"  muttered  the  old  hunter  ;  "  but 
I  can't  see  into  it,  nohow." 

"  See  now,  then,"  said  the  other,  solemnly — "  and  see 
you,  Frank,  and  what  you  see,  that  nctte,  for  it  is  evidence, 
and  on  it  hangs  another  life  /" 

"  Look  here!"  and  he  pointed  to  the  hole  by  which  the 
bullet  had  entered,  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  forehead,  but 
a  little  to  the  right,  about  half  an  inch  above  the  inner  cor- 
ner of  the  right  eyebrow. 

"  Well." 

"  And  then  here  /"  and,  as  he  spoke,  he  kneeled  down 
and  raised  the  head  gently  by  the  hair — the  cap  had  fallen 
off — and  laid  his  fi^iger  on  the  spot,  just  above  the  roots  of 
the  hair  at  the  nape  of  the  neck,  where,  after  passing 
through  the  brain,  it  had  issued. 

"  I  don't  see,"  said  Frank,  musing. 

"  Bu\  I  do,"  said  Pierson,  after  a  moment,  during  which 
he  had  bowed  his  own  head  over  the  muzzle  of  his  own 
rifle,  which  he  placed  in  several  different  directions,  wilh 
the  butt  on  the  ground.     "  He  did  7Wt  shoot  hisself." 

"  Why  not  V' 

"  If  he  had  done  so,  with  that  rifle,  the  ball  must  have 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  1S5 

come  out  of  the  back  of  his  head  at  a  point  liigher  than  that 
at  which  it  entered.     It  has  come  out  two  inches  lower." 

"  True,  if  it  were  accidental — but  if  intentional,  might 
not  he  have  held  the  piece,  from  above,  at  arm's  length  ?" 

"  Impossible  !  It  is  a  four-foot  barrel — no  earthly  arm 
could  have  done  it.     What  do  you  say,  Dolph  ?" 

"  What  you  says.  He  didn't  shoot  hisself,  neither  acci- 
dental, nor  a  purpose;  and  I  thank  God  for't  !" 

"  Amen  !"  replied  Harry.  "  Now,  look  there !"  and  he 
pointed  to  a  freshly-cut  v.hite  spot  on  the  trunk  of  one  of 
the  great  pine  trees,  at  about  three  feet  from  the  ground, 
directly  in  the  rear  of  the  corpse  ;  "  there  is  the  bullet !" 

Two  minutes  had  not  passed  before  the  woodman  had 
dug  the  fatal  ball  out  of  the  soft  bark  of  the  pine-tree 
with  the  point  of  his  knife. 

"  It's  Barhvte's  own  bullet,  too,  Aircher,"  said  the  hunter, 
examining  the  deadly  missile  ;  "  here's  his  own  mark  on't." 

"  The  deeper  and  more  damnable  the  craft  of  the  mur- 
derer !"  said  Harry. 

"  The  murderer  I"  repeated  Forester. 

"  Av  !  the  murderer  !"  repeated  Archer.  "  Now,  kneel 
down,  Dolph,  lay  your  eye  to  the  level  of  that  shot-hole  in 
the  tree,  and  take  your  range  past  the  collar  of  my  coat, 
as  I  stand  at  poor  Barhyte's  feet.  I  am  a  trifle  taller  than 
he,  but  that's  near  enough.  Now,  old  man,  where  does 
your  line  strike]   where  was  he  shot  from?" 

The  old  hunter  rose  from  his  knees  and  gazed  for  a  mo- 
ment wonderingly  in  the  face  of  the  young  man. 

"You're  a  merickle,  you  be)  You  knows  iverything, 
vou  do  !  Pve  said  it,  often ;  but  I  sees  it  now.  Harry 
Barhyte  was  shot  by  some  one  who  stood  at  top  o'  the 
Eagle  rock,  alongside  the  trunk  of  the  tree  with  the  knob 
on'L" 

"  x\re  you  sure  of  that  ?"  asked  Archer,  gravely. 

"  As  sure  as  that's  the  sun  yonder !" 

While  this  colloquy  was  going  on,  Frank  knelt  and 
took  the  same  eve-line,  and  saw  that   in   effect  the  range 

^  ^  CD 

was  true  from  the  point  where  the  bullet  had  cut  the  tree, 
through  the  elevation  of  a  tall  man's  head  to  a  level  about 
five  feet  above  the  table-rock,  close  to  the  bodv  of  the  white. 


186  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

oak  tree  ;  and  marvelling  greatly  at  the  strange  sagacity 
ui'  his  comrades,  he  kept  his  peace  and  listened. 

"  Would  you  swear  it?" 

The  hunter  paused.     "  I  would  !"  he  said,  at  last. 

"  Yet  that  is  his  own  gun,  and  it  was  his  own  bullet  that 
killed  him." 

"  Some  one  must  have  changed  guns  with  him." 

"  When,  Pierson?" 

A  light  seemed  to  flash  on  the  old  man,  for  his  eye  kin- 
dled, and  he  smote  his  hand  upon  his  thigh. 

"  Twice  !"  he  replied  ;  "  oncet  afore  he  was  shot,  and 
acrain  arterward.  We'll  be  on  the  trail  of  him  afore  ten 
minutes.     Ned  Wheeler,  you  shall  swung  for  this  !" 

"You  have  hit  my  very  thought,  Pierson,"  said  Archer. 
"  He  must  have  come  down  from  the  rock  after  doing  it — 
vet  I  can  find  no  track  of  him." 

"  Let's  try  again,"  said  the  old  man  ;  and  to  v/ork  they 
went,  and  searched  the  ground  almost  foot  by  foot,  but  no 
track  could  they  find,  except  their  own  prints  coming  from 
the  westward,  and  those  of  the  murdered  man  from  the  east. 

"  This  is  very  strange,"  said  Harry.  But  at  that  very 
moment  Frank  pointed  to  a  piece  of  flat  flag-stone,  which 
he  had  been  contemplating  closely  for  above  a  minute — it 
lay  about  a  yard  distant  from  the  dead  man.  And  lo  !  upon 
its  dry  surface,  visible  enough,  was  the  "sable  score,"  not 
of  fino-ers  four,  but  of  five  naked  human  toes,  which  had 
left  the  print  thereon  of  the  dark  peaty  soil  on  which  they 
had  last  trodden. 

"  Right,  Frank  !"  cried  Archer,  exultingly.  "We  will 
have  him  now ;  and  you  will  make  a  woodman  !" 

The  clue  once  taken  was  followed  easily  ;  a  large  piece 
of  loose  half-decayed  pine  bark  lay  on  the  ground  at  about 
four  feet  from  the  flag-stone ;  it  was  lifted,  and  beneath  it 
were  two  distinct  impressions  in  the  deep  loam  of  a  naked 
human  foot,  one  coming,  one  returning.  Other  indications 
were  discovered,  though  less  distinct  than  these,  which 
made  it  perfectly  clear  that  since  the  death  of  poor  Barhyte 
a  man  had  come  from  the  Eagle  Rock,  and  returned  to  it, 
barefooted  ;  concealing,  moreover,  the  evidence  of  his  visit 
hy  strange,  Indian-like  expedients. 

Harrv  a"-ain  drew  out  his  note-book,  and  showed  to  his 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  1^7 

companions  a  rude  map  which  he  had  already  made  of  the 
localities,  with  the  exact  positions  of  the  rock,  the  body,  and 
the  trees,  and  thereupon  he  now  inserted  the  places  of  the 
marked  stones  and  foot-prints. 

Forester  and  the  hunter  examined  and  verified  it,  and 
then  affixed,  the  former  his  signature,  and  the  latter  his  mark. 

"  Now,  Dolph,"  said  Archer,  quietly  ;  "  you  and  I  know 
who  the  murderer  is  ;  but  we  have  got  one  thing  to  do  yet — 
to  prove  it !  and  to  that  end  you  and  I  must  take  him,  and 
that  to-day  r"* 

"  We  can  do't,  Aircher  I" 

"  And  you  must  help  us,  Frank." 

"  Of  course,  Harry,  to  the  utmost — but  I  do  not  know 
how  I  can,  for  it  seems  to  me,  as  Dolph  says,  that  you  do 
know,  or  at  least  see  everything.     How  can  I  help  you  ?" 

"  Do  you  think  you  can  fitid  your  way  to  Timothy,  and 
the  wagon  V 

"I  am  not  sure.     I'll  try  though." 

"  Look  ye  here,  Mister  Forester,"  said  Dolph,  leading 
him  forward  to  the  brow  of  the  hill,  and  pointing  out  to  him 
a  towering  bare  crag  across  the  valley,  "  keep  your  line 
stret  to  that  'ere,  and  it'll  bring  you  out  at  the  fork  of  the 
road,  where  Tim's  waitin'." 

"  Have  you  got  your  pocket  compass,  Harry  ?" 

"  Here  it  is." 

"  I'll  set  the  line,  and  then  ail's  certain.  Now,  then, 
what  am  I  to  do  ?" 

"  Go,  and  find  Timothy  first;  then  follow  the  road  half 
a  mile,  and  you'll  come  to  a  country  store.  Get  help 
there — buy  a  ladle,  and  a  {q\\  pounds  of  lead — come  hither 
— melt  the  lead,  take  a  cast  of  those  two^  footprints,  which 
I  have  covered  over  again.  Then  take  them,  and  the  body 
and  the  rifle,  dosvn  to  the  store,  and  wait  until  we  come  to 
you.  Use  my  name  and  Dolph's,  and  do  not  let  them  hold 
an  inquest  until  we  come  up." 

"  Let  me  look  at  the  rifle  first." 

"Certainly;   what  of  it?" 

"  I  think  I  have  seen  it  before." 

"Indeed  !   when?" 

"  This  morning." 

"  Ay !"    replied    Harry,  catching    his  meaning    on    tha 


188  THE     DEERSTALKERS. 

instant — "  that  was  but  a  passing  glance.  You  cannot  be 
certain." 

"  I  may  be  made  so." 

"  W^ell  !  time  will  show,  and  we  have  no  time  to  lose, 
not  a  moment.  This  deed  had  not  been  done  twenty  min- 
utes  when  I  got  here,  for  I  heard  the  shot  which  did  it,  and 
the  assassin  may  well  have  been  within  earshot  when  we 
reached  the  ground  ;  he  could  not  have  been  many  hundred 
yards  distant,  for  all  these  stratagems  must  have  taken 
time.  Now,  if  he  have  heard  us,  he  will  be  desperate,  and 
may  lie  in  wait  for  you,  or  try  to  intercept  you.  If  he  do, 
shoot  him  like  a  dog,  and  I'll  bear  you  out." 

"  I  have  got  two  barrels  here,  and  a  good  stout  knife 
too,"  answered  Forester,  "  and  if  I  had  none  of  them, 
barehanded  I  would  not  fear  a  cold-blooded  murderer — he 
must  be  a  coward." 

"  But  a  cornered  coward  is  a  dangerous  thin";." 

"  Be  it  so.  I  am  on  my  guard.  Fare  you  well."  And 
he  set  off  at  a  round  trot  down  the  hill,  in  the  direction 
indicated,  and  was  soon  lost  to  view  among  the  thick  trees 
on  the  hill-side. 

There  was  a  momentary  silence,  which  was  broken,  at 
length,  by  the  hunter  inquiring  in  a  low  voice, 

"  What  next,  Aircher?" 

"  To  hunt  him  by  the  foot-track  till  we  find  him." 

«  And  then  ?— " 

"  If  we  can  follow  him  by  the  foot,  I'll  arrest  him  on  my 
own  authority." 

"  And  I'll  back  you.      Come." 

And  leaving  the  fatal  spot,  the^^  ascended  the  Eagle  Rock, 
where,  on  searching  the  circumference  of  the  flat  table  of 
stone  where  it  was  surrounded  by  soft  grassy  soil,  they 
easily  found  the  track  of  a  man's  foot  coming  up  to  it  from 
the  eastward. 

"  Run  down,  Dolph,  and  measure  the  dead  man's  shoe, 
length  and  brcadili,  mark  it  with  nicks  on  your  ramrod — 
be  quick." 

This  was  done  in  the  space  of  two  or  three  minutes,  and, 
as  was  expected,  the  tracks  were  found  to  be  different — 
shorter  and  broader — they  too  were  measured  and  marked. 

Some  minutes  were  spent,  thereafter,  but  the  pursuers  of 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  189 

blood  coLiLl  not  discover  any  track  leaving  the  rock,  till,  at 
length,  remembering  the  trick  practised  below,  Archer 
turned  over  a  flat  stone  which  lay  on  the  soft  mire  of  the 
swaly  ground,  and  there  was  the  stamp  of  a  booted  foot — 
the  same  boot. 

"  He's  ben  larned  this  by  the  Injuns  in  Floridy,"  said 
Dolph. 

"  Doubtless  !"  replied  Archer.  "  But  this  must  have 
taken  him  many  minutes.  He  cannot  be  far  before  us. 
Ha  !  here's  a  Ibot-print  not  covered ;  he  has  thought  himself 
safe  here.     But  I  cannoi  see  another." 

"  He's  tuk  up  the  bed  of  the  little  stream  !"  cried  the  old 
hunter,  delighted  at  finding  himself  able  to  add  his  quota  to 
the  discovery  of  the  criminal  ;  "  and  what's  more,  he's 
travellin'  up  it  still — see  how  muddy  the  water  comes 
down,  and  there  hain't  ben  a  drop  o'  rain  to  rile  it  these 
three  days." 

"  Forward,  then !"  exclaimed  Harry.  "  We  have  nothing 
to  do,  but  to  follow  it  along  till  it  gets  clear  again.  .We 
have  him  now." 

And  away  they  dashed  as  hard  as  they  could  run,  fol- 
lowing the  banks  of  the  brook,  which  came  down  muddier 
and  more  muddy,  the  higher  they  traced  it  toward  the  source 
— they  were  gaining  upon  their  man. 

But  ere  they  came  to  clear  water,  they  met  him  unex- 
pectedly coming  to  meet  them,  face  to  face.  He  had  heard 
them,  doubtless,  as  they  crashed  through  the  brake  and 
underwood  ;  and,  seeing  the  daugf^r  of  being  detected  flying, 
had  resolved  to  brazen  it  out. 

As  they  surmised,  it  was  Ned  Wlieeler.  Guiltier  than 
usual  he  could  not  look,  for  the  assassin  and  the  dastard 
were  ineradically  branded  on  his  vile  features  by  the  hand 
of  nature, 

"  You  run  hard  to-day,  my  men,"  he  said,  sneeringly. 
"What  are  you  chasing,  anyhow?" 

"Ned  Wheeler,  you  /"  said  Archer,  steadily,  halting 
within  six  feet  of  him. 

"  vl!hasing  ^/?c/"  said  the  ruffian.  "  You'll  find  that  tough 
work,  I  guess."     And  he  cocked  his  rifle. 

"  Edward  Whrr-elcr,"  I'Ppeated  Archer,  "  you  are  my 
prisoner.     1  arrest  you,  for  the  murder  of  Henry  Barhyte,** 


190  THE   DEERSTALKERS. 

The  wretch  turned  pale  as  death,  but  still  he  raised  his 
rifle  to  the  shoulder,  and  levelling  it  full  at  Archer's  head, 
cried,  in  a  hoarse  voice— 

"  Stand  off,  or  by  J — s  you're  a  dead  man  !' 

At  the  same  instant  Pierson  levelled  his  piece  too,  ex- 
claiming, "  Down  with  your  gun,  Ned,  down  with  it,  or  I 
fire !" 

The  coward's  eye  wandered  from  Archer  to  the  new 
speaker,  and  as  Harry's  quick  glance  perceived  that  he 
wavered,  he  leaped  in  atone  bound,  and  mastering  his  rifle, 
which  went  off  harmlessly  in  the  scuffle,  with  his  left  hand, 
caught  him  by  the  throat  with  his  right,  and  tripping  him 
at  the  same  time  with  his  foot,  cast  him  heavily  to  the 
ground.  The  next  moment  he  was  disarmed,  and  his  hands 
were  securely  fastened  behind  him. 

"  It  only  remains,  now,  Dolph,"  said  Harry  Archer,  "  to 
lake  his  back  track  to  the  place  where  he  left  the  brook, 
and  then  we  have  the  whole  clue  made  good." 

"  We'll  do't,"  said  Dolph.  "  Come,  Wheeler,  you  mnst 
go  along  with  us  ;  so  you'd  as  well  go  easy." 

"  You'll  live  to  be  sorry  for  this,"  said  the  wretch,  dog- 
gedly ;  but  he  shuddered  as  he  spoke  the  words,  for  he 
perceived  the  ability  and  perseverance  with  which  he  had 
been  pursued,  though  he  could  not  conceive  how  he  had 
been  taken. 

The  rest  was  easy  work.  The  track  was  clear  in  the 
deep  mud  of  the  swamp,  and  within  twenty  paces  it  led 
them  to  the  banks  of  the  little  stream,  which  had  already 
subsided  into  almost  its  natural  clearness. 

*'  Now,  Wheeler,"  said  Archer,  gravely,  "  It  seems  a 
cruel  thing  to  do — but  we  have  no  choice  or  help  for  it — 
we  must  take  you  down  to  the  place  where  the  body  lies, 
and  detain  you  there  until  assistance  arrives  to  remove  you 
and  it." 

"  Don't  he  olnrmed  for  nuthen',"  answered  the  callous 
wretch  ;  "  I'd  jest  as  lieves  set  by  Harry  Barhyte's  body 
as  anywheres  else  1  Ef  he  be  dead  I  didn't  shoot  him  ;  my 
gun  hain't  ben  shot  off  to-day  ;  you  can  try  it,  ef  you  like, 
f'il  make  you  pay  for  this,  I  tell  you  !" 

"  Wheeler,"  said  Archer,  yet   more   solemnly  than  be- 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  191 

fore,  "beware!  I  tell  you,  you  are  committing  yourself. 
Who  said  anything  about  shooting?  or  how  know  you  that 
Barhyte  was  shot '?  I  warn  you.  I  was  Barhyte's  friend, 
and  I  will  be  his  avenger.  I  know  you  to  be  guilty,  and  I 
will  pursue  you  to  the  utmost;  but  no  advantage  shall  be 
taken  of  you.  If  you  would  take  your  only  chance  of 
saving  your  neck,  do  not  say  one  word,  or  answer  any 
question,  until  you  have  got  a  lawyer.     Now,  come  on." 

And  without  farrher  words  they  led  him  back  by  the 
very  way  along  which  they  had  followed  him.  They  pointed 
out  his  foot-prints  to  him,  one  by  one,  uncovering  those 
which  he  had  concealed,  and  replacing  the  stones  and  bark 
as  before,  and  then  they  set  him  face  to  face  with  the  dead 
body. 

That  was  a  fearful  trial,  but  the  wretch  bore  it  with  a 
dogo^ed  hardihood,  that  in  a  good  caus^  would  have  been 
noble  resolution.  His  features  worked  a  little,  but  he  gazed 
fixedly  on  the  face  of  the  dead,  and  then  said  in  a  quiet, 
sullen  voice, 

"  Ay  !  he  is  dead,  but  I  did  not  kill  him  !" 

"  We  shall  see,"  replied  Archer,  and  leading  away  their 
prisoner  to  the  foot  of  the  rock,  and  making  him  sit  down, 
they  sat  down  themselves  beside  him,  and  patiently  awaited 
the  return  of  Forester  with  aid. 

Within  an  hour — so  eagerly  had  Forester  bestirred  him- 
self, and  such  was  the  excitement  created  by  the  dreadful 
tidings,  in  that  peacetlil  neighbourhood — voices  were  heard 
coming  up  the  hill,  and  a  few  minutes  afterward.  Forester 
appeared  on  the  ground,  followed  by  Timothy,  carrying  the 
ladle  and  the  lead,  and  half  a  dozen  decent-looking  farmers 
and  countrymen. 

"  Where  is  the  body,  sir?"  said  one  of  these,  stepping 
a  little  forward,  with  a  small  air  of  authority — it  was  the 
coroner  of  the  county,  who  was  accidentally  present  in  the 
store  when  Forester  entered,  and  had  accompanied. 

"  There,  sir,"  said  Archer,  rising  from  the  place  where 
he  was  sitting — "  There,  sir,  is  the  body  of  the  murdered 
man,  and  here  is  the  murderer  !" 

No  one  had  noticed  the  little  group  at  the  foot  of  the  rock 


192  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

till  he  spoke,  all  eyes  being  turned  in  the  opposite  direction, 
and  his  words  made  quite  a  commotion. 

"And  pray,  who  are  you,  sir1"  asked  the  coroner. 

"  I  am  Henry  Archer,  at  present  of  New  York — the  per- 
son who  discovered  the  body,  and  vvho  have  taken  the  mur- 
derer, whom  I  now  deliver  into  your  custody." 

"  On  what  authority,  or  evidence  did  you  arrest  him  ?" 

"  On  the  authority  which  rests  in  every  citizen  to  arrest 
1  felon  taken  in  the  fact,  and  on  the  evidence  which  I  shall 
show  you." 

And  in  a  few  words  he  recounted  the  facts  as  they  oc- 
curred, pointed  out  the  mute  evidence  given  by  the  direction 
of  the  shot,  and  the  naked  foot-prints  coming  and  returning 
irom  the  rock,  and  then  led  the  officer  over  the  whole 
ground,  to  the  place  where  the  prisoner  was  taken. 

"  It  is  all  clear  enough,  sir.  It  is  all  as  clear  as  day,"  said 
the  coroner,  "  I  can  see  that  myself  now  that  you  point  it 
out.  But  it  is  all  owing  to  you.  Had  any  one  of  us  found 
that  body,  had  any  one  man,  I  am  bold  to  say,  out  of  five 
thousand,  found  it,  he  would  have  taken  it  for  granted  Bar- 
hyte  had  killed  himself,  and  the  only  question  would  have 
been  accidental  death,  or  feh  de  se^  and  I  fancy  it  would 
have  been  the  latter.  And  then  the  murderer  would  have 
gone  clear,  and  the  murdered  man  been  murdered  doubly, 
in  his  reputation  as  well  as  in  his  body.  Pray,  sir,  are 
you  a  lawyer  ?" 

"  No,  I  am  not,  sir,"  replied  Archer,  with  a  smile. 

"  No,  he  ain't,"  said  old  Dolph,  "  but  he's  a  darned  sight 
better  thino;,  he's  the  verv  best  and  'cutest  woodman  I  iver 
did  see." 

"  To  what,  prav,  do  you  attribute  your  own  very  singu 
lar  acuteness  in  this  matter,  sir?"  persisted  the  coroner, 
paying   no    heed    to   Dolph,  but   looking  very  eagerly  at 
Archer.     "  I  never  heard  of  anything  like  it    in  all  my 
life  ?" 

"  I  am  not  conscious  of  anything  so  very  particular  about 
the  matter,  but  if  there  be  anything,  I  can  only  attribute  it 
to  a  habit  of  observing  closely,  and,  as  my  friend  here  says, 

to  the   NOELE   SCIENCE   OF   WoODCRAFT  !" 

'  It  is  very  strange  !"  said  the  coroner ;  then  turning  to 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  193 

Wheeler,  who  was  in  charge  of  a  constable,  "  Now,  prisoner, 
we  must  look  to  this.  Observe,  you  need  answer  no  ques- 
tions unless  you  choose  it.  Constable,  take  off  the  boot  of 
his  right  foot." 

It  was  done,  and  lo  !  the  foot  was  black  with  the  very 
hue  of  the  mire  around. 

"  Set  his  right  foot  in  that  foot-print !" 

The  prisoner  turned  as  pale  as  ashes,  when  this  mandate 
was  given,  and  struggled  impotently  to  resist,  but  it  was  all 
in  vain.  Point  for  point  the  naked  foot  fitted  the  naked 
foot -print. 

"  Now  take  his  boot  up  above  the  rock,  two  or  three  of 
you,  and  try  that.     We  will  have  all  clear." 

This  too  was  done,  and  in  a  few  minutes  three  or  four 
witnesses  returned,  all  ready  to  swear  to  the  perfect  coin- 
cidence. 

"  I  think  this  is  enough,  sir,"  said  the  coroner,  turning 
to  Archer,  "  although  your  suggestion  of  the  lead  is  an 
admirable  one,  wherever  foot-tracks,  either  of  men  or 
beasts,  are  to  be  brought  in  evidence." 

"  Quite  enough,  sir,"  replied  Archer.  "  I  only  intended 
using  it,  in  case  of  not  taking  the  prisoner  on  the  spot. 
This  actual  comparison  before  witnesses  is  of  course  better, 
because  positive." 

"  Tain't  no  use,  none  of  it !"  muttered  the  prisoner,  dog- 
gedly. "  It's  his  own  rifle  that  he's  shot  with  ;  there  it  lies 
now,  alongside  of  him.  Tain't  likely,  I  could  a'  shot  the 
man  with  his  own  gun  !" 

The  bystanders  stared  a  little  at  this  speech  :  and  one 
of  them,  taking  up  the  rifle,  said,  "  'Tis  Harry  Barhyte's 
rifle,  sartin  !" 

But  just  then  Forester  advanced,  and  asked  to  see 
Wheeler's  piece.  It  was  given  to  him,  and,  after  a  single 
glance  at  it,  he  said, 

"  We  passed  Whev-ler  on  the  road  this  morning;  he  was 
carrying  his  rifle  at  a  trnil  in  his  right  hand,  and  the  outer 
side  was  toward  me.  I  will  swea'r  that  it  was  not  this 
rifle  which  he  carried  thon  ;  whether  this  be  his  own  or  no." 

"  It  is  his  own,"  cri(?d  two  or  three  voices  from  the 
crowd. 


194  Tin:   Di-;i  h.-:Taj.i::;ks. 

"  How  can  you  swear  to  that,  Mr.  Forester?  You  could 
have  had  but  a  very  cursory  view  of  it." 

"  The  rifle   he   carried  had   a   brass-lidded  patch-hox  in 
the  stock — this,  which  is  said  to  be  his,  has  none." 
•  "  And  Henry  Barhyte's?"  asked  the  officer. 

'■'■Has  a  brass  patch-box  !"  answered  the  man  who  held  it. 

"  Take  him  away,  constable,  take  him  away ;  and  some 
of  you  make  a  hand-barrow  of  some  of  these  branches — you 
have  got  an  axe  or  two,  I  see,  among  you — and  bring  the 
body  down,  will  you  not  ?  To  Dutch  Jake's,  you  know, 
that's  the  nearest  public  house ;  the  prisoner  and  the  body 
both.  You  will  attend  there,  gentlemen  ;  we  shall  want 
your  evidence." 

"  We  are  staying  there  for  the  present,"  answered 
Archer.  "  My  wagon  and  horses  are  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill ;   I  can  offer  you  a  seat,  if  you  will  accept  one." 

"I  thank  you,  much,  sir.     Shall  not  I  crowd  you?" 

"  By  no  means.      1  will  leave  my  servant." 

"No,  Aircher,  best  leave  me,"  interposed  Dolph.  "I 
must  break  up  them  ere  does,  and  hyst  them  into  the  trees 
till  mornin' ;  the  wolves'll  git  'em  else.  And  I'll  bring 
down  a  saddle  with  me.  Don't  be  feared,  coroner,  I'll  be 
thar  afore  you've  got  your  jury  sot." 

"  There  is  nothing  to  detain  us  any  longer,  is  there  V 

"  Nothing." 

"  Let  us  go  then." 

A  few  minutes'  walk  brought  them  to  the  carriage,  and 
driving  rapidly  down  the  road,  they  soon  reached  Barhyte's 
cottage.  Here  Harry  pulled  up,  and  giving  the  reins  to 
Forester,  apologised  to  the  coroner,  who  was  a  lawyer  of 
good  standing  in  the  county  town,  for  detaining  him  a  few 
seconds,  and  entered  the  house,  closing  the  door  carefully 
after  him. 

The  most  fearful  suspicions  were  at  work  in  his  mind, 
whether  this  woman,  evidently  in  minor  matters  guilty, 
were  not  in  this  last  damning  crime  an  accomplice  like- 
wise ;  and,  between  his  friendship  for  Barhyte,  his  resolve 
TO  prosecute  the  matter  to  the  utmost,  his  reluctance  to  in- 
jure a  woman,  and  some  remains  of  lurking  tenderness  to 
the  young  creature  whom  he  had  so  often  fondled  when  a 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  195 

child,  Ins  mind  was  in  a  terrible  state  of  anxiety  an  1 
turmoil. 

The  beautiful  young  woman,  who  was  now  very  becom- 
ingly and  very  coquettishly  attired,  evidently  in  expectation 
of  this  visit,  had  heard  the  wheels,  and  was  coming  to  the 
door  to  meet  him,  when  he  entered. 

There  was  a  bright  flashing  glance  in  her  blue  eye,  and 
a  smile  of  wanton  invitation  on  her  lip,  as  she  addressed 
her  visiter. 

"  Henry  has  not  come  home,  Mr.  Archer,"  she  said. 
"  But  you  need  not  mind  that,  you  can  sit  down,  and  talk 
over  old  times  with  me  till  he  returns." 

And  she  put  out  her  small  white  hand  to  lead  him  to  a 
chair,  as  she  spoke. 

But  he  took  it  not,  nor  advanced,  but  stood  still,  and 
gazed  at  her  fixedly. 

"  No,  Mrs.  Barhyte,"  he  said  in  a  slow  solemn  voice. 
"  Henry  has  not  come  home,  and  what  is  more,  he  never 
will  come  home  again." 

She  looked  surprised  for  a  moment,  and  then  tossing  her 
head  saucily,  "  It  is  no  great  loss,"  she  said.  "  He  has 
run  away,  I  suppose,  Mr.  Archer.  He  has  been  a  lost 
man  these  nine  months  past." 

"  No,  madam,  he  is  dead." 

She  gazed  at  him  for  a  moment,  and  then  bursting  into 
a  sort  of  hysterical  laugh — "  Dead  !"  she  cried  ;  "  Oh  !  you 
are  joking  with  me  ;  dead  drunk  !  you  mean." 

"  Indeed,  I  do  not.  He  is  dead  !  Shot  dead,  through 
the  brain,     /found  him." 

"  Good  God  !"  she  exclaimed,  turning  ashy  pale,  and 
glaring  at  him,  as  if  her  eyes  would  have  started  from  their 
sockets — "  Good  God  !  How  terrible  !"  and  then  sinkinoj 
her  voice  into  a  whisper,  she  added,  "  Who  shot  him  V 

"  It  was  supposed,"  he  replied,  "  that  he  shot  himself. 
We  were  but  a  short  way  off,  when  the  gun  was  fired — 
there  was  but  one — and  when  we  found  him,  he  was  lying 
on  his  back  quite  dead,  with  his  own  gun,  just  discharged, 
beside  him." 

"  His  oifii  gun  !"  she  shrieked  ;  "  his  oivn  gun  !  Oh  ! 
villain,  villain,  villain  !  Can  it  be,  that  after  all,  you  have 
done  this  thing?" 


196  THE    DEERSTALKEUS. 

"  It  can,  indeed  !  nay,  it  ?'s,  Mary.  He  is  a  prisoner,  T 
look  him,  redhanded,  in  the  fact ;  there  is  evidence  enough 
to  hang  twenty  men  ;  and  he-  shall  hang,  or  my  name  is 
not  Henry  Archer.  But  1  thank  God,  Mary,  that  you  nro 
innocent,  at  least,  of  this." 

"  Oi  this — of  this — you  did  not  believe,  Archer,  that  I — 
I — was  a  murderess?" 

"  I  feared  it,  Mary." 

"My  God!  my  God !  to  what  have  I  fallen!  What 
have  I  done?  how  am  I  humbled?"  She  buried  her  face 
in  her  hands,  and  for  several  minutes  wept  bitterly.  At 
length,  and  as  it  would  seem  by  a  great  effort,  mustering 
courage,  she  raised  her  eyes  to  his,  now  melancholy  and 
subdued,  and  cried  in  a  plaintive  tone — 

"Oh!  you  are  good — j^ou  are  good,  Henry  Archer.  Tell 
me,  tell  me,  what  must  I  do?"  she  paused  ;  and  then,  an  old 
recollection  of  innocent  and  happy  days  breaking  upon  her, 
she  added,  "  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?" 

"  Repent !"  the  young  man  answered  solemnly.  "  Repent, 
and  be  forgiven." 

"  I  will,  I  will,"  cried  the  beautiful  sinner ;  "  God  help 
me,  I  will!" 

"  God  v:ill  help  you  !"  replied  Archer.  "  Now,  tell  me, 
what  know  you  of  this  awful  business?" 

"i/e — you  know  whom  I  mean,  I  will  never  name  his 
name  again — pretended  to  be  drunk  last  night,  and  carried 
away  Barhyte's  rifle,  and  left  his  own  in  place  of  it.  So, 
Harry  went  out  early,  before  lie  came — of  course  he  was 
late  on  purpose — and  took  his  gun  to  hunt.  Oh  !  my  God, 
it  will  kill  me  to  think  of  it. — Harry  !  poor,  poor,  dear 
Harry  !  how  he  loved  me,  and  I — I — oh  !  what  will  become 
of  me  !"  and  again  she  burst  into  a  bitter  paroxysm  of  tears. 

"  I  must  leave  you  now,  Mary,"  said  Archer,  kindly. 
"  Heaven  keep  you  in  j'our  good  resolves.  I  will  return, 
when  they  bring  him  home.  Shall  I" —  he  hesitated  for  a 
moment — "  shall  I  bring  a  clergyman  with  me  ?" 

"  Yes  !"  she  cried,  clasping  her  hands  together  eagerly, 
"  Oh,  yes — God  bless  you  for  the  thought,  I  will  confess, 
and  be  good,  if  I  can,  hereafter.  Oh  !  Heaven  bless  you, 
Mr.  Archer!" 


THE    DEERSTALKERS.  197 

*  Good-night,  Mary ;"  and  with  the  words  he  left  the 
room,  and,  mounting  his  driving-seat,  took  the  reins,  and 
drove  rapidly  to  tlie  tavern,  whither  hot  rumour  had  pre- 
ceded them  already,  and  where  the  fat  man  awaited  them, 
half  crazy  between  excitement  and  anxiety. 

M'hat  need  of  many  words  ? 

If  there  were  any,  the  excitement  of  my  tale  is  ended. 
The  conclusion  must  be  anticipated. 

The  coroner's  inquest  was  held,  and  a  verdict  of  wilful 
murder  was  returned  instantly  against  Edward  Wheeler  ; 
but  the  miserable  wretch  spared  this  world  any  farther 
trouble  with  his  concerns,  or  his  crimes ;  for  he  contrived, 
that  night,  to  anticipate  his  doom,  hanging  himself  by  his 
neckcloth  from  a  ciothes'-pin,  on  the  wall  of  the  room  in 
which  he  was  confined,  previous  to  his  removal  to  the 
county  gaol. 

So  resolute  was  he,  even  to  the  last,  that,  the  peg  from 
which  he  was  suspended  being  scarce  six  feet  from  tlie 
ground,  he  fell  on  his  knees,  and  so  strangled  himself,  till 
life  was  extinct.     He  died  aiid  made  no  sitjn. 

Mary  Barhyte  did  indeed  repent,  and  gave  proof  of  re- 
pentance  in  an  amended  and  secluded  life;  but  she  lived  not 
long,  dying  of  what  was  called  consumption,  which  is  so 
often  but  another  name  for  a  grieved  and  broken  heart. 

And,  after  she  was  gone,  some  palliation  for  her  sin  was 
discovered  in  the  fact,  that  she  had  loved,  and  would  have 
married  Wheeler,  when  both  were  young  and  innocent,  but 
for  her  parents'  opposition.  She  believed  him  dead  when 
she  wedded  Barhyte.  The  first  lover  returned — He  was 
wicked,  she  weak  ;  he  tempted,  and  she  fell. 

Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged  ! 

Archer  and  Forester  returned  home,  for  the  time,  much 
saddened  and  subdued ;  and  even  Fat  Tom  neither  swore 
nor  jested,  on  the  homeward  route. 

In  process  of  time,  however,  the  dark  shadow  left  on 
their  minds  by  these  terrible  events  passed  away,  and  left 
them,  as  of  old,  light-hearted,  joyous,  and  carefree ;  and 
perhaps  both  felt  somewhat  raised  in  their  own  opinion,  by 
the  feeling  that,  in  circumstances  requiring  great  exertion, 


198  THE    DEERSTALKERS. 

both  of  physical  and  moral  courage,  they  had  done  their 
duty. 

Harry  Archer  loved  not  to  speak  of  this  subject  afterward; 
but  whenever  he  did  so,  he  was  wont  to  cite  it  as  a  proof, 
that  there  is  not  only  much  practical,  but  much  moral 
utility,  in  the  Gentle  Science  of  Woodcraft. 


THE   EN  P. 


/-) 


raSK  PROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

lOAN  DEPT. 

on  the dateto  whivt    ''""P^'' beW, or 
Renewed  boots  are  nbtJct^'J' 

ject  to  immediate  recali. 


(L1795sl0)476B 


^"'^S^Z. 


T^^^rr 


)  C    BERKELEY  UWAMES 


CD3m31ib3M 


M15136G 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


f^»i 


il^f 


